Australian Open: What you need to know
ICYMI: Best day 1
W2W4 on day 2
Sofia Kenin understands that she is not the main story at Melbourne Park. Ashleigh Barty, world no. 1 and local favorite, coming back after an 11-month hiatus. Either Serena Williams tries to score the Grand Slam score of 24, or Bianca Andreescu’s return to injury after 18 months.
No, this 22-year-old American whistles under the radar as the defending Australian Open champion. However, carrying the title carries heavy baggage.
“Mentally, I have to deal with my emotions and understand who I am going to play, they play without pressure, of course,” Kenin said at her pre-tournament press conference. “They will probably play better against me, so I have to deal with my nerves somehow.”
Kenin opens her defense on Tuesday against Australian wildcard Maddison Inglis, who according to Kenin ‘plays like in Maureen Connolly in the old days’. ‘
She lost that game, but as for the title, “Obviously I would like to defend it.”
Top seeds open
Nr. 1 Ashleigh Barty: Yeast through the field at the Yarra Valley Classic, defeating Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the final. Because she received a walkover against Serena Williams, Barty only played four games. She is considered one of the favorites with a favorable draw, but Barty does not see it that way.
“I feel exactly like the other 127 girls playing,” she said after beating Muguruza. “We are all the same. I think if the predictions for the draw are made, I do not think anyone has ever come true in the whole of tennis. We’ll just see how the draw expands. ”
After a well-deserved Friday, Montenegro’s Barty Danka Kovinic faces.
5 Elina Svitolina: After Svitolina lost to eventual champion Elise Mertens in the quarterfinals of the Gippsland Trophy, she takes on the fight against Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, who took a set from Barty in a third round match last week.
6 Karolina Pliskova: Last week’s Yarra Valley Classic left in the third round and lost to Danielle Collins. Pliskova gets Italian Jasmine Paolini who won two matches last week.
Come in… hot!
18 Elise Mertens: The 25-year-old Belgian won the Gippsland Trophy 4-for-4 and won her sixth WTA title. Mertens won four of her five matches in Linz last fall and fell in the final with Aryna Sabalenka. Her opponent in the first round is 18-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
No 20 Maria Sakkari: In the last three tournaments, she has reached the semifinals for a record of 9-3. Sakkari fell to Anett Kontaveit in the Grampians Trophy semifinals last week. Next: Kristina Mladenovic.
Kaia Kanepi: Saw her position to No. 65 from No. 94, with a run-up to the Gippsland Trophy final. While losing 6-4, 6-1 to Mertens there, Kanepi has won 14 of her last 15 matches since last year. She plays Anastasija Sevastova.
29 Ekaterina Alexandrova: The 26-year-old Russian entered the semifinals of the Gippsland Trophy and beat Simona Halep, the number one seed, along the way. Alexandrova’s opponent in the first round is the Italian Martina Trevisan.
Teens in the spotlight
Coco Gauff: Naomi Osaka defeated Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019 at the Australian Open in 2020 and won a title in Linz at the age of 15. Now Gauff is 16 and faces Jil Teichmann in the first round. In the second, Elina Svitolina, number 5, was selected.
Leylah Fernandez: The third round of her last Grand Slam, in Paris, and the second round at the US Open in 2020.
In search of the old great magic
Sloane Stephens: It’s been a while since she won the US Open in 2017, but she was an Australian Open semi-finalist in 2013 and her head-to-head record against first-round opponent, no. 26, Yulia Putinseva, is 2-2 – everything is three matters.
Svetlana Kuznetsova: The US Open in 2004 and the French Open champion in 2009 are still a threat at the age of 35. She won two of three matches against first-round opponent Barbora Strycova; they split their two Grand Slam encounters.
Sam Stosur: Sixteen years separate these Australian first-round enemies. Stosur, 36, won the 2011 U.S. Open. Destanee Aiava (20) is a wildcard. The two have never met.
Disturbed watch
12 Victoria Azarenka: The two-time Australian Open champion withdrew from the Grampians Trophy last week after her first match of the year. Jessica Pegula, a 26-year-old American, can be difficult. As a qualifier, she won five matches at last year’s Western & Southern Open to reach the quarterfinals and then won her first two matches at the US Open.
25 Karolina Muchova: The 24-year-old man from the Czech Republic draws the short straw in the random draw: Jelena Ostapenko. The French Open champion in 2017, still only 23, remains dangerous.
11 Belinda Bencic: The talented Swiss player surprisingly fell in her first match of 2021, after Sorana Cirstea in the Grampians trophy. She is up against Lauren Davis, a 27-year-old American who stands at number 75. Davis beat Angelique Kerber in the second of Wimbledon in 2019.