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Swiatek and Gauff among big names in action
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Mertens the pick on opening day
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Miyazaki can help continue British interest
Swiatek among heavy favourites on opening day
Tournament favourite Iga Swiatek is unlikely to have any problems on Monday against Rebecca Peterson, and joining the Pole as a heavy favourite on day one is Cori Gauff, Victoria Azarenka, Belinda Bencic, and Karolina Muchova who are all expected to ease into round two.
However, there are a number of seeded players priced up at bigger lines, and it would be extremely unlikely mathematically for all to progress, so we should see the draw open up even at this early stage of the tournament. Certainly favourites with form and/or fitness doubts, such as Veronika Kudermetova, Elena Rybakina, and Beatriz Haddad Maia, could well be vulnerable.
Stephens versus Haddad Maia fascinates on day one
Haddad Maia's match with Sloane Stephens fascinates, with Haddad Maia the marginal 1.794/5 favourite currently against the 2017 winner here, but Stephens isn't close to the player she was six years ago and is consistently hovering around the 35-40 rank mark over the last few months.
Generally speaking, Stephens has beaten worse players and lost to better over recent times, and if Haddad Maia is in decent shape physically after several retirements on grass, I think she falls into the 'better player' category.
Mertens the pick against Bjorklund
Moving on, Elise Mertens has had a poor run of results since the French Open, although has generally lost against good players, and the Belgian looks very capable of getting back to winning ways against a downgrade in opponent, qualifier Mirjam Bjorklund.
While Bjorklund didn't drop a set in qualifying, she was a solid favourite in all matches against players ranked outside the top 150, and faces a much stronger test today against Mertens.
I'd be very surprised if there was a repeat of Bjorklund's win in Bogota, where Mertens was priced around 1.330/100, and the difference in price today to 1.511/2 makes me think there's some value on the 32nd seed. Mertens -2.5 games at around 1.75/7 looks a decent spot.
Wozniacki back in action as comeback continues
Other fascinating match-ups include Caroline Wozniacki, who has played three matches (losing two) since she returned to tour after a 3.5 year absence, and she faces the qualifier Tatiana Prozorova, who won three three-setters - underdog in all of them - to make round one. Prior to this, there wasn't a lot of evidence that Prozorova could compete at this level currently, but it's so hard to know what Wozniacki's level is. I suspect she will have too much and is 1.538/15 to get the win.
Brit Miyazaki with gift draw
Finally, the British qualifier Lily Miyazaki did very well to make the main draw, getting through three tough matches in qualifying, and today faces Margarita Betova (formerly Gasparyan) who is in a dreadful run of form.
Having missed 1.5 years between summer 2021 and the start of 2023, Betova is yet to win a set this season (0-14 in sets) and has been beaten 6-0 to 6-2 in seven of those sets. After doing so well in qualies, Miyazaki couldn't have asked for a much better opening round draw and is 1.241/4 to continue her progress and could meet Belinda Bencic in round two.