The WTA Monterrey Open is set to begin on Monday, and should provide us with a fascinating week of tennis

The tour travels to Mexico this week for the WTA Monterrey Open, with several big names opting to play here rather than in Kuala Lumpur. Jelena Jankovic is this week’s tournament favourite and No. 1 seed, following a string of good performances in the second half of February. After a poor start to the season, the Serb qualified for back-to-back semi-finals in Dubai and Doha.

Jankovic enters the competition in good form, but will probably face a stiff challenge from defending champion and No. 2 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The 19 year-old continues to climb the rankings, and should prove to be a major contender this week.

Aravane Rezai and Julia Goerges are the third and fourth seeds respectively, and are both expected to make the latter stages. Goerges has been playing poorly of late, but might benefit from the return to a hard court here. Anastasia Sevastova is also in action this week. Sevastova eliminated Jankovic in round one last year, and enters as the No. 5 seed.

The final three seeds are Sara Errani, Iveta Benesova and Polona Hercog. Beyond the seeds, Alize Cornet and Gisela Dulko are worth keeping an eye on. Dulko won the WTA Acapulco Open last week, but faces a tough first round clash against Benesova.