TENNIS AO 2015 – The draw ceremony to the 2015 Australian Open women’s tournament took place on Friday. The first round features some top matches like the re-match of the 2013 Australian Open semifinal between Vika Azarenka and Sloane Stephens, Caroline Wozniacki against US rising star Taylor Townsend, Simona Halep against Karin Knapp and the Italian derby between Flavia Pennetta and Camila Giorgi. We preview the women’s draw, the possible match-ups leading to the final scheduled on 31st January, the top names in each quarter and the possible surprises. Diego Sampaolo
AO 2015: Interviews, Results, Order of Play, Draws
First quarter:
Top seed Serena Williams won the last Grand Slam in 2014 at the US Open and the WTA World Tour Finals in Singapore and starts as the favourite to win her 19th Grand Slam title of her legendary career but last year’s edition when she was knocked out in the fourth round for the third consecutive year proved that she is not unbeatable. She has not reached the final at Melbourne Park since 2010.
Serena was drawn with 20-year-old Elina Svitolina (World Number 26) in the third round, a potential dangerous rival before possible threats represented by either Garbine Muguruza or Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round and Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter final. Muguruza upset Serena last year in Grand Slam Tournaments: Muguruza beat the US legend with 6-2 6-2 in the second round of the French Open. The match between close friends Serena and Caroline could be a re-match of last year’s US Open final and the epic WTA Championships semifinal.
Wozniacki lost the final in Auckland at the start of the year but was forced to withdraw in Sydney due to a wrist injury last week. The Danish player, who will play against US revelation Taylor Townsend in the opening round, could face the winner of the match between Vika Azarenka and Sloane Stephens in the second round. Azarenka and Stephens who played the semifinal at Melbourne Park in 2013, will renew their rivalry in the first round. Wozniacki will have to overcome Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the third round, last year’s finalist Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round.
The first quarter of the draw also features some other interesting players like Heather Watson, who won Hobart this week, Kirsten Flipkens who meets Dominika Cibulkova in the first round and Vera Zvonareva
The possible quarter final in this section of the draw could be between Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki
Second round:
Last year’s Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is the best ranked player in the second section of the draw, Kvitova started 2015 with a semifinal in Shenzhen and the title in Sydney where she beat her compatriot Katerina Pliskova.
The Czech star will debut against a qualifier before meeting either Barthel or Vekic in the second round and Australian player Casey Dellacqua, who plays well in the home tournament and could represent a tough rival. Kvitova could face another local star Samantha Stosur in the fourth round. The Aussie player could play against 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the second round and German Andrea Petkovic, semifinalist at the 2014 Roland Garros.
The possible quarter final could be between Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska The Polish player, who is now coached by Martina Navratilova and started 2015 with the win at the Hopman Cup in Perth, will make her debut against Japan’s Kurumi Nara before meeting Varvara Lepchenko in the third round and Venus Williams in the fourth round. Venus won the Auckland title in early January and could represent a threat. The US star could face the winner of the Italian derby between Flavia Pennetta and Camila Giorgi. Pennetta will have to defend a lot of points as she reached the quarter finals in Melbourne last year.
The most interesting matches in the second section of the draw will be Vekic vs Barthel, Stosur vs Nicolescu, Pennetta vs Giorgi and Rogers vs Tomljanovic.
Tomljanovic is a name to watch as she upset Radwanska in their only head-to-head match in Paris in 2014 and could represent a threat to the Polish star in the second round.
Third quarter:
Last year’s Roland Garros finalist Simona Halep is the top seed in the third section of the draw and could meet Ana Ivanovic in an intriguing quarter final match.
Halep will make her debut against Italian Karin Knapp, who posed a threat to Maria Sharapova last year in Melbourne, 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki in the third round and Italian Sara Errani or Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round.
Ivanovic, who lost the Brisbane final against Ana Ivanovic last week, will face a tougher task as she will have to play against last year’s US Open quarter finalist Belinda Bencic from Switzerland, the great revelation of the 2014 season and the winner of the very interesting match between Karolina Pliskova and Ekaterina Makarova. Pliskova, winner of the Australian Open Junior Tournament in 2010 lost the Sydney final against her compatriot Kvitova on Friday. The young Czech player had a breakthrough season in 2014 in which she won two titles in Seoul and Linz and finished runner-up in Pattaya (where she lost to Makarova), in Nuremberg (losing to Bouchard) and in Honk Kong (losing to Sabine Lisicki). Makarova reached the fourth round in the Australian Open and the semifinal at the US Open In 2014. The Russian player is also a strong doubles player with two titles at the 2013 French Open and the 2014 US Open with Elena Vesnina.
The most interesting first round matches are Bencic vs Georges, Lisicki vs Mladenovic and Knapp vs Halep.
Fourth round:
The possible quarter final in the fourth quarter could be between Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard, two of the most glamorous players on the circuit.
Sharapova, winner at Melbourne Park in 2008, started her 2015 season in impressive style with the win in the Brisbane final against Ana Ivanovic in three sets with 6-7 6-3 6-3 in another tight match between the two stars. The Siberian star, French Open champion in 2014, will make her debut against qualifier Petra Martic before a possible match against Sorana Cirstea in the second round and Zarina Diyas in the third round before meeting either Shuai Peng or Lucie Safarova in the fourth round. These two players reached their first semifinals last year. Peng played the US Open semifinal, while Safarova reached the top-four at Wimbledon.
Bouchard, semifinalist in Melbourne and Paris and finalist at Wimbledon in 2014, will have to overcome a tougher challenge after her first round match against Anna Lena Friedman as she will play against Angelique Kerber in the second round, Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Kuznetsova will play against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in the most interesting match in the fourth quarter.
