Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki takes on Jarmila Gajdosova in her opening match in Tokyo.
Six weeks ago things were looking a little miserable for Wozniacki. A string of early defeats had made a mockery of her world number one ranking and she wasn't even being talked about among the contenders for the US Open. However the Dane turned her summer around with another New Haven title before a run to the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows.
It still won't satisfy her critics and Wozniacki will be unhappy with the manner of her defeat to Serena Williams but she's back playing well again and has a realistic shot at defending her titles in Tokyo and Beijing over the next fortnight although this will be a challenge given the strength of those fields.
Twelve months ago she swept to the Tokyo title with back to back three set wins over Victoria Azarenka and the now retired Elena Dementieva.
This could have been a tricky opening tie but Gajdosova isn't at her best and only just scraped past Canada's Rebecca Marino 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the opening round.
Wozniacki leads Gajdosova 3-0 on the head-to-head and won easily 6-3, 6-2 when they met in the Wimbledon third round this summer.
