It could be a historic fortnight in women’s tennis as Serena Williams looks to become the most decorated Grand Slam winner in the modern era at the Australian Open. Williams will be looking to regain the title she lost last year and certainly doesn’t lack for motivation.
Angelique Kerber arrives as the defending champion and she will defend a Grand Slam title for the first time. Near enough anyone who is anyone in the women’s game will be looking to take the title from her apart from Petra Kvitova who is sadly injured.
Recent Winners
2016 – Angelique Kerber
2015 – Serena Williams
2014 – Li Na
2013 – Victoria Azerenka
2012 – Victoria Azarenka
2011 – Kim Clijsters
2010 – Serena Williams
2009 – Serena Williams
2008 – Maria Sharapova
2007 – Serena Williams
The Format
The 128 players are all in the draw ready for the tournament to begin. The tournament is a knockout right from the beginning with every match the usual best of three sets. There is no tiebreak in the third set but the heat rule is in operation where both women can leave the court at 1-1 in sets should the heat get too strong.
Top Quarter
As the world number one and the defending champion Angelique Kerber gets the number one seed position and she is the main seed here. She is joined in terms of high seeds by the French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, Carla Suarez-Navarro and Roberta Vinci. The other seeds are Irina-Camelia Begu, Daria Kasatkina, Shuai Zhang and Anastasija Sevastova.
The non-seeds in this quarter look very strong. They are headed by Eugenie Bouchard and include Shuai Peng, Yaroslava Shvedova and Coco Vandeweghe so this quarter will take some winning.
Second Quarter
Simona Halep tops the seedings in this part of the draw. She is the fourth seed and the section also contains the eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. The other leading seeds are Elina Svitolina and Venus Williams. The remaining seeds are Monica Puig, Kiki Bertens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Laura Siegemund.
Those without a seeding in this section of the draw are of decent quality in terms of blasts from the past as Jelena Jankovic and Francesca Schiavone are both in this quarter. Katarina Siniakova could be more dangerous to the seeds.
Third Quarter
We get to the section of the draw where the Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska is housed. She is the third seed and the US Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova is also here as the number five seed. They are joined by Timea Bacsinszky and Elena Vesnina who is on the upgrade. The other seeds are Yulia Putintseva, Daria Gavrilova, Sam Stosur and Alize Cornet.
The floaters in this quarter are strong. Heather Watson, Kiki Mladenovic, Camila Giorgi and Tsvetana Pironkova are all of sufficient enough quality to make a name for themselves in this fortnight.
Bottom Quarter
We finally get to the part of the draw where Serena Williams is sectioned. She is the number two seed and her quarter final opponent if the event runs to seeding will be the pocket rocket Dominika Cibulkova. Johanna Konta made the semis here last year and arrives in fantastic form while Barbora Strycova can be dangerous on her day. The other seeds are Caroline Wozniacki, Ekaterina Makarova, Carolina Garcia and Timea Babos so this is a real tough quarter.
The seeds are strong but when you consider Denisa Allertova, Sara Errani, Kirsten Flipkens, Andrea Petkovic, Lucie Safarova and Belinda Bencic have all been seeded in a Grand Slam in recent times and are unseeded here this is a mini-tournament all in itself.
Betting
Before the draw came out I was considering Jo Konta to win this tournament very strongly but she is in that bottom quarter which looks an absolute minefield. You really don’t need lengthy matches in the early stages of this when the heat is zapping and whoever comes through that quarter will have had to work really hard.
With that in mind I’ll go for the other one I fancied at a slightly shorter price but at least we know she has a nice draw. We know Simona Halep will run everything down that she can and she has more power than ever before now too. She goes into the event a little under the radar which can be no bad thing and if we see the game from her that got her to the US Open quarter final where she pushed Serena all the way she could take some stopping here.
I’m going to take a couple of quarter bets too in the quarters which look attackable. Angelique Kerber is in the position of defending a Grand Slam for the first time and that is undoubtedly a different position to usual so she could be worth taking on. Daria Kasatkina has already beaten her this season but her odds reflect that.
Eugenie Bouchard is starting to play better and her run in Sydney where she made the semi-finals came at a good time. She is a former Grand Slam semi-finalist so knows how to come through and having had a good off season behind her 16/1 looks a touch too big for her to come through here.
Alize Cornet made the final in Brisbane at the beginning of the year so she is good value to come through a third quarter containing perennial underachiever Radwanska and Karolina Pliskova. You can make a case for many in this quarter but with winning momentum behind her including wins over Vesnina and Cibulkova, Cornet is too big at 16/1.
Tips
Back S.Halep to win Australian Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 13.00 with Betfair (1/3 1-2)
Back her here:
Back E.Bouchard to win 1st Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Skybet
Back her here:
Back A.Cornet to win 3rd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Bet365
Back her here:
