In a time where the women’s game is as wide open as it has ever been we are set for a fascinating first Grand Slam of the year as the Australian Open gets played out in Melbourne over the next two weeks.
Serena Williams made history when she won the title despite being pregnant 12 months ago. She doesn’t defend the title this year. That has left us with a huge number of potential champions in what could be the best Slam ever in the women’s draw.
Recent Winners
2017 – Serena Williams
2016 – Angelique Kerber
2015 – Serena Williams
2014 – Li Na
2013 – Victoria Azarenka
2012 – Victoria Azarenka
2011 – Kim Clijsters
2010 – Serena Williams
2009 – Serena Williams
2008 – Maria Sharapova
The Format
128 women will form the draw for this tournament. That draw has already been completed and will be played out in a knockout style as always. Every match in the competition will be the best of three sets with no tiebreak in the final set. The heat rule will be in operation throughout the tournament.
Top Quarter
The number one seed in Serena’s absence is Simona Halep. She is seeded to meet the former world number one Karolina Pliskova in the quarter final but British number one Jo Konta will be one of the seeds looking to break up that match. Petra Kvitova, Ashleigh Barty, Elena Vesnina, Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova will also want to come through.
Camila Giorgi is a very capable player who is unseeded in this section of the draw. She is not the only one either. Eugenie Bouchard will look to get back to her best form from here while Naomi Osaka is said to have a big future.
Second Quarter
The Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza heads the seeds in the second quarter this year. If everything goes to rankings she will meet Caroline Garcia in the quarter final while Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, US Open finalist Madison Keys, Kristina Mladenovic, Anastasija Sevastova, former champion Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska are all seeded in this part of the draw.
This quarter had an element of being a tournament within a tournament about it anyway but when you throw Maria Sharapova into the mix as well as Donna Vekic and even Heather Watson that is further the case.
Third Quarter
Elina Svitolina has been drawn in this quarter and she is the highest seed although Venus Williams will rate as a huge danger to her chances. The six other seeds in this part of the draw are Shuai Peng, Daria Kasatkina, US Open champion Sloane Stephens, Julia Goerges, Daria Gavrilova and Ekaterina Makarova.
Belinda Bencic was partnering Roger Federer at the Hopman Cup a couple of weeks ago and she will hope that partnership inspires her in this quarter. She heads what is largely a weak set of unseeded players in this portion of the draw.
Bottom Quarter
The French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko is in this quarter but it is Caroline Wozniacki who is the highest ranked seed. The other seeds looking to gatecrash the party are Kiki Bertens, Magdalena Rybarikova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Coco Vandeweghe, Dominika Cibulkova and Anett Kontaveit.
Some big names are among the unseeded players in this quarter of the draw. The local star Sam Stosur is probably the most eye catching while Olympic champion Monica Puig is in here as is Carla Suarez Navarro. Timea Babos is another formerly high ranked player in this section.
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Outright Betting
I’ll go with a woman from each half of the draw this week and in the bottom quarter the settled down life and maturing of Caroline Wozniacki could take some stopping. The number two seed won the season ending title in Singapore last year and has already made the final in Auckland this year. She is yet to break that Grand Slam duck but if winning in Singapore has given her the necessary boost to her confidence and her belief she could do some damage here.
Madison Keys got a taste of the final match in a Grand Slam in New York last year and I expect her to kick on from that this year. She has always had the talent to win a Slam but needed that breakthrough tournament. Having had that she should go into each of these things with the intention of winning them now rather than just competing in them and she is a nice price to come through even with a draw full of star studded names.
Quarter Betting
I can’t resist a quarter bet either especially with the price that Venus Williams is to win the third quarter. I readily accept a lot of that price is because she has Belinda Bencic in the first round but should she overcome that challenge there might not be too much more to stop her making the semi-finals. We saw last year how she can still raise her game in the majors. She lost in the final of this and at Wimbledon and was a semi-finalist at the US Open. Bencic is a huge danger to her chances but I’ll pay in the hope she wins and goes deep.
Tips
WON – Back C.Wozniacki to win Australian Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 11.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
Back M.Keys to win Australian Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
Back V.Williams to win 2nd Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 9.00 with Coral
Back her here:
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