Top players find themselves in a tough bottom half of the draw at the $600,000 Qatar Open Women's Tennis Championship, which will kick off in Doha on Monday.
The main challenge in the Qatar Open for Russian world number four Maria Sharapova is likely to come from France's world number two Amelie Mauresmo, and fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina.
Sharapova said on arrival to Doha that she had put behind her the loss to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Australian Open where she failed to win three match points.
The Russian, who is the current Wimbledon champion, gets a bye in the first round as do three others, top seed Amelie Mauresmo of France, third seed Myskina of Russia and fourth seed Alicia Molik of Australia.
The Miami-based Russian will face in the second round the winner of the first-round clash between Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Annabel Medina Garrigues of Spain .
Also in Sharapova's half of the draw are sixth seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy and eighth seed Paolo Suarez of Argentina.
Sharapova, who pulled out of the Paris Open last week after her triumph at the Tokyo Pan Pacific final, said she had recovered from an illness, which forced her to skip Paris.
The 23-year-old third seed Myskina, who lost to Venus Williams in the semi-finals of the Antwerp Diamond Games on Saturday, finds herself in a tough bottom half of the draw as well.
The reigning Qatar Open champion is likely to meet Spain's Conchita Martinez in the second round and faces a possible semi-final clash with Sharapova.
Top seed and world number two Mauresmo will be seen in action next Wednesday and is expected to clash with fifth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the quarter-finals set for Thursday.
In the semi-finals, Mauresmo may meet rising Australian star and fourth seed Molik. Schynder is to play a qualifier in the first round whereas Molik, who reached the quarter-finals of the Australia Open this year, will take on the first-round winner between Salima Safr of Tunisia and Nicole Pratt of Australia.
Three-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, however, will not take part in the $600,000 Qatar Open because of injuries. Another player not to play in Doha is last year's losing finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.