Tennis News

1. Will Serena Williams be sharp from the start?

The World No.1 hasn’t played a completed match since her loss to Roberta Vinci at the US Open last September, and was forced to withdraw from Hopman Cup due to knee inflammation. But she’s been practicing at Melbourne Park this week and her camp sounds more than confident that she’ll be ready to go on Monday.

All the same, Serena won’t have the luxury of a couple of soft early rounds to find her rhythm. She’s drawn the highest-ranked unseeded player in the first round, the always dangerous Camila Giorgi. Serena is 2-0 against the flat-hitting Italian, but both matches came on clay, Giorgi’s worst surface. And as we’ve seen in the past, when Giorgi finds her rhythm — while simultaneously taking away her opponent’s — she can tough to beat.

From there, Serena’s path gets no easier. She leads the toughest quarter of the draw, which is anchored on the other side by No.5 seed Maria Sharapova. Also looming in her quarter are Caroline Wozniacki, Belinda Bencic, and Apia International Sydney champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In sum, Serena’s path to the final is projected to go through Giorgi, Jelena Ostapenko, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Wozniacki, Sharapova, and Radwanska. At her best, she’s the overwhelming favorite. But with no data points to start the season, it’s tough to assess her level until she steps on the court.

2. Is the Australian Open Victoria Azarenka’s to lose?

After a frustrating 2015 season, the former No.1 is the talk of the town. She’s a two-time champion in Melbourne and always plays her best tennis in Australia. Thanks to her dominant run to the Brisbane International title, there’s a lot of buzz on the grounds about Azarenka’s prospects.

In a top heavy draw, Azarenka finds herself in the wide-open bottom half of the draw, along with No.2 Simona Halep, No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza, No.6 Petra Kvitova, No.7 Angelique Kerber, and No.10 Venus Williams. With the injury concerns surrounding Halep, Muguruza, and Kvitova, as well has strong win over Kerber in the Brisbane final, Azarenka is the front-runner to get out of the bottom half. She opens her tournament against Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck.

In the event Azarenka faces Serena in the final and gets a chance to avenge her three rough losses to the American last year — all three went three sets and she had match points in Madrid — get ready to see these two stats:

Serena has won her last 15 tournament finals. The last time she lost? 2013 Cincinnati to…Azarenka.

3. Can Maria Sharapova play herself into form?

As with Serena, Sharapova comes into the Australian Open without any matches under her belt. The difference is she has a draw that should get her some straight-forward matches early. Her path to the quarterfinals begins with Nao Hibino and is projected to include Evgeniya Rodina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Belinda Bencic (or, if she holds her form, Svetlana Kuznetsova). She’s then projected to play Serena in the quarterfinals in a rematch of last year’s final.

If she were drawn in any other quarter she might have been a solid lock for the semifinals, assuming she’s recovered from her left forearm injury. Instead, with a possible quarterfinal match against Serena looming, we are left to ask: is this the tournament Sharapova snaps her streak against her top ranked nemesis?

Sharapova has not beaten Serena in over a decade, losing their last 17 encounters. But as Sharapova has often said, all she can ask of herself is to keep putting herself in the position to test herself against the game’s best.

4. Can Agnieszka Radwanska avoid an early exit?

Radwanska anchors the bottom quarter of the top half of the draw, and she has a very makable draw to the semifinals except for one thing: She may play a resurging Eugenie Bouchard in the second round. As of this writing, Bouchard is into the final of the Hobart International and has arguably been the most consistent player of the first two weeks of the season; she’s the only woman to make back-to-back quarterfinals to start the season. Meanwhile, Radwanska won the Shenzhen Open without having to play anyone ranked in the Top 90; this could be a massive test for her. Radwanska used a strong finish to 2015 capped by lifting the trophy at the WTA Finals in Singapore and has won 22 of her last 26 matches, all in the Asia-Pacific region.

Radwanska has her work cut out with a strong quarter: Kvitova, Sloane Stephens, Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, Andrea Petkovic, and Sam Stosur.

5. Which young gun will be this year’s breakout star?

The Australian Open has seen breakout star after breakout star in recent years. In 2013, it was Sloane Stephens beating Serena to make her first major semifinal. In 2014, it was Bouchard kicking off a monster year at the majors by making the first of three straight major semifinal in Melbourne. Last year, we saw Madison Keys barrel past Kvitova and Venus Williams to make her first final four at a Grand Slam tournament.

While Stephens, Bouchard, and Keys could all make the second week and score some upsets to repeat their feats, two young names pop out as possible semifinal debutantes. Karolina Pliskova rued her underperformance at the majors last year, but she’s as good a pick as any to get out of Simona Halep’s quarter.

Belinda Bencic is also a solid pick, but she’s been drawn into Serena’s quarter and may have to go through Kuznetsova and Sharapova just to get to the quarterfinals, where Serena could be waiting.

The Favorites:

– Serena Williams: Is she fit enough for seven matches on hard courts? Has she put her US Open disappointment behind her? Can she handle the mounting pressure that will come with each win? There are so many questions swirling around Serena’s Melbourne campaign. But she could silence them quickly with an emphatic win on Monday.

– Victoria Azarenka: She’s going to be asked incessantly about her chances in Melbourne and to preview matches that may not even happen. Azarenka needs to stay focused on each match and go about her fortnight in a workmanlike manner. It will be very tempting to get swept up in all the hype.

– Agnieszka Radwanska: She may need the draw to break her way, but Radwanska seems ready for a run. Don’t look now but she’s won four titles in Asia since the US Open, compiling a 22-4 record since. This is the “Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific”. You do the math.

The Next Best Things:

– Maria Sharapova: Any section other than Serena’s and Sharapova would have a solid shot at the final. If the upsets start raining down early, she could take advantage.

– Angelique Kerber: Don’t be thrown off by her retirement in Sydney due to illness. Kerber will be fine for Melbourne. And if she can exact some revenge on either Azarenka or Muguruza in the quarterfinals, the German very well could make her first Slam final.

Dark Horses:

– Sloane Stephens: The ASB Classic champion looked sharp in Auckland and her straightforward win over Caroline Wozniacki there will be a big confidence booster. This could be the year Stephens pulls together all the elements of her athletic game.

– Carla Suárez Navarro: The Spaniard has a great draw. She’ll play a qualifier in the first two rounds. She’s then projected to play Petkovic (she’s four of their six matches) before getting either Kvitova, who has struggled with illness all month, or Kristina Mladenovic/Dominika Cibulkova. That’s a nice path to the quarterfinals.

– Daria Gavrilova: I’m not ready to crown the young Aussie the 2016 champion, but her first Slam quarterfinal is not out of the question. She loves a big stage and a big crowd, and she’ll surely get one if she plays Kvitova in the second round. Pull off that upset and she’s cleared a nice path to the quarters. That would be a massive result for the 21-year-old.

First week spoilers:

– Camila Giorgi (vs. Serena Williams, first round)

– Daria Kasatkina (vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, first round)

– Alison Riske (vs. Belinda Bencic, first round)

– Eugenie Bouchard (vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, second round)

– Alizé Cornet (vs. Simona Halep, second round)

– Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (vs. Garbiñe Muguruza, second round)

For more analysis on the draw, listen to the newest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

MELBOURNE, Australia – On the eve of the Australian Open – where they’ll be going for their third straight Grand Slam title together – Martina Hingis has joined Sania Mirza as co-World No.1.

With Hingis and Mirza now having their best 11 results over the last 12 months as a team – they just won their 11th WTA doubles title together in Sydney – they are finally No.1 in the world together.

Hingis’ first 35 weeks at No.1 in doubles came in six stints, from June 8 to August 2, 1998 (8 weeks), August 17 to October 25, 1998 (10 weeks), November 2 to 22, 1998 (3 weeks), June 7 to July 4, 1999 (4 weeks), August 2 to 22, 1999 (3 weeks) and January 31 to March 19, 2000 (7 weeks).

She will now begin her 36th career week at the top, while Mirza earns her 41st.

“It’s a really nice feeling having that No.1 ahead of your name,” Hingis said after the final in Sydney on Friday. “It’s definitely something I was aiming for, and with Sania I felt like I had the opportunity to get there. When she became No.1 in Charleston I was just as happy as when I did it myself.

“Being the No.1 team for the last 10 months – we’ve proven it with two Slams and the WTA Finals in Singapore – we definitely belong there. It was just a question of time to get that No.1 ranking.”

“I’m so happy for her that 16 years later she’s become No.1 again!” Mirza, who first rose to No.1 last April, commented. “But regardless of what the ranking was, we were the No.1 team in the world.

“I’m so happy that we’re together now not just as the No.1 team, but as individuals as well.”

The Swiss-Indian duo is on a 30-match winning streak that has brought them seven straight titles at the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and WTA Finals in 2015, and Brisbane and Sydney this year.

They’ll take that streak – the longest since 1990 – into the Australian Open this fortnight.

Hingis and Mirza are the 11th co-World No.1s in WTA Doubles Rankings history. The full list:

127 weeks – Cara Black & Liezel Huber
82 weeks – Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci
39 weeks – Lisa Raymond & Sam Stosur
20 weeks – Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond
10 weeks – Kveta Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik
8 weeks – Serena Williams & Venus Williams
7 weeks – Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta
5 weeks – Hsieh Su-Wei & Peng Shuai
3 weeks – Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs
3 weeks – Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suárez
1 week – Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza

MELBOURNE, Australia – When the top half of the 2016 Australian Open women’s singles draw gets rolling on Monday in Melbourne, fans won’t be left wanting for star power. Four Top 6 seeds will take the court, led by six-time champion Serena Williams and 2008 champion Maria Sharapova. Here’s a rundown of key matches to see.

Monday, Day 1
First Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Camila Giorgi (ITA # 36)
Head-to-head: Williams leads 2-0
Key Stat: Williams has won 8 of 14 major titles since Patrick Mouratoglou became her coach.

Four words can neatly summarize Serena Williams’ mood as she prepares her Australian Open title defense. “I don’t look back,” says Williams, who is ready, willing and able to kick off her 2016 with a continuation of a march to history that was temporarily halted in New York last season. But her first challenge, against the highest-ranked unseeded player in the draw, promises to be a tricky one.
Italy’s Camila Giorgi pushed Williams to a tie-break during Fed Cup action last season, and she’ll hope to take advantage of the 34-year-old’s lack of match play- Williams pulled out of Hopman Cup with knee inflammation but says she’s injury-free in Melbourne – to gain an early upper hand. But Williams knows a thing or two about overcoming challenges early in Slams. She holds a 60-1 lifetime record in first rounds at majors, and has never lost one in Australia.

Pick: Williams in three

[25] Samantha Stosur (AUS #27) vs. [Q] Kristyna Pliskova (CZE # 114)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Stosur has never been past the round of 16 at Melbourne.

One of the most beloved Aussie athletes in recent history has yet to find her mojo at the Happy Slam, but hope springs eternal as former US Open champion Sam Stosur prepares to make her 14th career appearance in Melbourne. Though she’s only made the second week twice (and not since 2010), the experienced Stosur knows that if she plays her tennis she’ll have an opportunity to rack up a win over the talented yet unheralded Pliskova. “I want to handle myself well, play well, do the things that I need to be doing, put myself in good positions hopefully to win many matches,” Stosur said. “If I can do all that and play to my ability, then I’ll be happy.” Pliskova, the identical twin of No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova, has mustered a 5-9 lifetime record at majors, and has not appeared in the main draw of the Australian Open since 2013.

Pick: Stosur in three

[4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4) vs. Christina McHale (USA # 65)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Radwanska has dropped only seven games in three matches versus McHale.

Many pundits are predicting a big year for Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, and the 26-year-old has already started on the right foot by taking the Shenzhen title without the loss of a set. Radwanska, a semifinalist at Melbourne (2014) and a five-time quarterfinalist here, will face a player that has given her very little trouble in the past. The youthful, talented McHale has been troubled by the Radwanska match-up, and with red-hot Radwanska having won 22 of 26 matches dating back to last year, the challenge of coping with the unorthodox stylings of the crafty Pole promises to be even more difficult for the American.

Pick: Radwanska in two.

[5] Maria Sharapova (RUS #5) vs. Nao Hibino (JPN # 56)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Sharapova has played just seven tour-level matches since Wimbledon 2015.

Can Maria Sharapova shake the rust off in time to get past rapidly-rising Nao Hibino on Monday in Melbourne? The Russian has not played since the Fed Cup final last November, but she is confident that her short, sweet off-season training block and her experience will help get her through the early rounds in Melbourne. “Yes I might be more rusty,” Sharapova told reporters on Saturday, “but I’ve always been someone who treats practice as meaningful and I can take that into matches. I’m ready to go.” In Hibino, Sharapova will face one of the breakout performers of 2015. The 21-year-old won her first WTA title at Tashkent and finished a season inside the Top 100 for the first time.

Pick: Sharapova in two.

More must-see tennis: Eugenie Bouchard will look to continue her fine run of form against the always-dangerous Aleksandra Krunic in the pair’s first-ever meeting. Bouchard reached her first WTA final in well over a year over the weekend in Hobart… Italy’s Roberta Vinci begins her final Grand Slam season with a battle against Austria’s Tamira Paszek. Though Paszek is ranked more than 100 places lower than Vinci, she owns a 2-0 record versus the Italian and has never dropped a set against Vinci… Luksika Kumkhum pulled one of the biggest upsets of the 2014 Australian Open when she upset sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova in the first round. Will lightning strike twice for the Thai qualifier, or will Kvitova get her revenge… France’s Kristina Mladenovic got an exceptionally tough draw this year at Melbourne. Seeded for the first time at the Aussie Open, she drew former finalist Dominika Cibulkova, whom she has lost all five previous encounters against.

MELBOURNE, Australia – The last time Yulia Putintseva played on Hisense Arena, she pushed Agnieszka Radwanska to the brink in a topsy-turvy three-setter back in 2014; on Monday afternoon she went one better against former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, recovering from a set and break deficit to defeat the Dane, 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

The Kazakh, a former junior finalist at the 2012 Australian Open, recently turned 21, but hadn’t won a WTA main draw match since last summer, and appeared close to another defeat when she fell behind a set and 4-2 to her more experienced opponent.

Yet, Putintseva displayed impressive resolve to turn the tables in a second set tie-break and weathered a final set surge from Wozniacki to serve out the win in just over three hours.

In her on-court interview, the smiling youngster admitted she was dealing with cramps from early in the third set, and played some impressive mind games to keep calm when it came time to complete the upset.

“I tried to keep my emotions inside, and actually imagine I was losing. It’s easier that way.”

Ending the match with a whopping 42 winners, Putintseva also out-aced Wozniacki, hitting two back-to-back in the middle of the second set tie-break while maintaining an impressive 74% first serve percentage.

For Wozniacki, the loss completes a string of progressively disappointing losses in Melbourne; since reaching the semifinals in 2011 – when she had a match point against Li Na – she has ended her tournament one round worse in each successive year, a pattern that was on her mind as early as last year, when she fell in the second round to Victoria Azarenka.

“I think it’s a curse I’ve gotten here,” she said in 2015. “Hopefully, I’m going to break that next year and start going the other way.”

In the same section of the draw as World No.1 Serena Williams, Putintseva not only takes out one of the American’s closest rivals, but she next plays China’s Han Xinyun, who benefitted from the 6-2, 2-1 retirement of Mariana Duque-Mariño.

Putintseva pulls off upset win on Hisense Arena #ausopen https://t.co/Rq8mh1PKlz

— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2016