2025 Australian Open - Women's Discussion

[Mark-Touch]

All WTA discussion (singles and doubles) pre-A.O., during A.O. and post-A.O. is welcome!

A link to the draws will be posted as soon as they become available.
A poll to pick the singles winner will be added at the same time.

Qualies will start next week and the tournie begins January 12.
Here's a link to the Qualies draw.
Gaining entry to the tournie first round guarantees a check of $82K U.S.

Here's a link to the Main draw.

Can Sabalenka defend her title from last year?
Who has a realistic chance of winning this year?

Happy New Year to all !

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Rain for now in Qs; seriously until 6 pm local

Melbourne, VIC, AU Hourly Forecast - The Weather Network

Get Melbourne, VIC, AU current weather report with temperature, feels like, wind, humidity, pressure, UV and more from TheWeatherNetwork.com.

www.theweathernetwork.com

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

dang it Parks!

 

[Mark-Touch]

dang it Parks!

Konjuh out too.

Fruity2 passes first test..
Fruity1 not. No surprise there.

 

[Enceladus]

Sabalenka will face Sloane Stephens in the opening round, Coco Gauff will face Kenin (2020 AO champion) in the first round, other notable matches include Ostapenko-Bencic, Swiatek-Siniakova or Osaka-Garcia.

 

[Enceladus]

The draw was not kind to Naomi:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1877201984899481888

 

[Bride of Alcaraz]

Kenin will eliminate Gauff !!

 

[Mark-Touch]

Maya has a very legitimate chance of stinkin' up the joint by taking out Pegula in the first round.
Maya's been on fire recently and is giving Kenin a hard time as we speak.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

The top half draw is crazy.
Iga with favorable draw straight to semis unless my withdraw princess Amanda shake things up.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Some seriously good 1R matches:

Sabalenka v Sloane
Andreeva v Bouzkova
Gauff v Kenin
Osaka v Garcia
Ostapenko v Bencic
Svitolina v Cirstea
Navarro v Stearns
Kalinina v Jabeur
Alexandrova v Raducanu
Swiatek v Siniakova

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Also keep an eye on the Aussie wildcards who've drawn some big matches.

Emerson Jones the Junior #1 aged 16 who just beat top 40 Wang in Adelaide draws #6 Rybakina first up.
Maya Joint who's into the Hobart SF and is only 18 years old draws #7 Pegula first up.
Tomljanovic has drawn Krueger who's had a great start to the year but just retired in Adelaide.
Saville, former top 25 player has drawn Blinkova.
Gibson has drawn a winnable match against Turkish player Sonmez.

 

[Aabye5]

The potential to be way more entertaining than the men's draw, and I thought the men's draw was better than it has been recently.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Gauff v Kenin is crazy.

Let's not forget Kenin embarrassed Gauff in the 1R of Wimbledon in 2023. After that loss, Coco went on to win Cincy and then the US Open and become the player we know she is now. But Kenin also beat her here 5 years ago, the year Sofia won this title. That match has layers to it.

 

[James P]

Really hope we see a Sabalenka-Gauff, Rybakina-Swiatek SFs.

 

[D-Lite]

Sabalenka will face Sloane Stephens in the opening round, Coco Gauff will face Kenin (2020 AO champion) in the first round, other notable matches include Ostapenko-Bencic, Swiatek-Siniakova or Osaka-Garcia.

Sabalenka leads the H2H 4-0 but all of those matches went to 3 sets. Not sure SS has looked so beatable since after her USO win when she went on a huge losing streak. She's also 0-2 in AO warm-up events losing to Ann Li twice in succession whereas Sabalenka is approaching top form already.

 

[D-Lite]

Gauff v Kenin is crazy.

Let's not forget Kenin embarrassed Gauff in the 1R of Wimbledon in 2023. After that loss, Coco went on to win Cincy and then the US Open and become the player we know she is now. But Kenin also beat her here 5 years ago, the year Sofia won this title. That match has layers to it.

This is a different Gauff. The only thing that seems to boost Kenin's form nowadays is playing a top player she wants to get a scalp over. I think Gauff will make an example out of her R1.

 

[GoKenin]

Please Sofia please

 

[Mark-Touch]

I'd like to see Kenin take down Gauff but I just don't see it happening with Kenin's recent form.
She's just 6/10 for her last 10 matches.
Losing to Zheng, Yuan, Tauson and Joint. None of those are slouches, but still.

Gauff on the other hand is 9/10 for her last 10 matches with wins over Sab, Swiatek and Pegula.

 

[ScottleeSV]

A very good draw. Sabalenka has become so good recently that it needs to be tough for her to make it interesting.

Raducanu has Alexandrova in the last128 for the 2nd time in 4 slams.

Burrage has a great draw. There can't be many easier ties than Jean-Jean(?). Will Boulter finally have a run at a slam?

The two Aussie girls (Jones and Joint) have been very unlucky.

 

[robyrolfo]

dang it Parks!

Couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

This is a different Gauff...

I'll believe it when I see it. Her 2024 was actually pretty lackluster until the very end, when half the tour is already on vacation (WTA finals are a joke compared to ATP finals). And there is no pressure playing the first tie in the United Cup, especially when your teammate on the men's side is better than the opposing team's men's player.

 

[Grizzy]

My quarterfinal predictions

Sabalenka vs. Zheng
Gauff vs. Pegula
Yastrzemski vs. Svitolina
Navarro vs. Cristian

Final: Sabalenka vs. Svitolina

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

Final: Sabalenka vs. Svitolina

I would love your prediction to come true, adding Sabalenka as the champion.

 

[Mark-Touch]

My quarterfinal predictions

Sabalenka vs. Zheng
Gauff vs. Pegula
Yastrzemski vs. Svitolina
Navarro vs. Cristian

Final: Sabalenka vs. Svitolina

It would be nice to see your final prediction come true.

I would prefer to see the quarters with:
Sab vs. Shnaider/Vekic
Gauff vs. Joint/Osty/Samson
Yastrem vs. Svito
Navarro vs. Azarenka/Cristian

 

[Grizzy]

I would love to see the following win either through personal interest or entertainment value:

Fernandez
Muchova
Svitolina
Raducanu
Kostyuk
Osaka


Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

 

[Enceladus]

Complete schedule for Monday:

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Todoni on Center: the Show.

 

[spystud]

That’s funny to post the OoP for the second day instead of the first.

 

[Mark-Touch]

Here's the order of play for Day 1, Jan 11, 2025 according to the A.O. website.
I know, I know, I shouldn't make you click.

 

[Dunlop300g]

Ok sentimental fav is Keys but I had to vote for Coco. Pegula is a dark horse in this one. Bottom line ... all three American women are in great form going into Aus Open 2025 !! And wow Kenin v Coco in first round ... you've got to be kidding me! That could get interesting.

 

[flyingboris]

wow Kenin v Coco in first round ... you've got to be kidding me!

Wow indeed, kind of a shame. I wish both of them well, but I’m ready for a Kenin Grand Slam comeback story!

 

[AM75]

A lot of weird pairings in women‘s doubles draw. Seeing Ostapenko together with Hsieh Su Wei is strange.

 

[AM75]

Wow indeed, kind of a shame. I wish both of them well, but I’m ready for a Kenin Grand Slam comeback story!

Not with Coco in the kind of form that she showed at the Union cup. Kenin will win couple of games at most.

 

[Mark-Touch]

A lot of weird pairings in women‘s doubles draw. Seeing Ostapenko together with Hsieh Su Wei is strange.

OMG. Hsieh must have had a falling out with Mertens.
I watched Hsieh play with Osty a few days ago and Osty was absolutely dreadful, especially at net.
If they get past the quarters they will be lucky.

Dab/Rout, Sinak/Towns and Mertens/Perez would roast them.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

A lot of weird pairings in women‘s doubles draw. Seeing Ostapenko together with Hsieh Su Wei is strange.

They played together this past week. 'Penko stunk it up.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

OMG. Hsieh must have had a falling out with Mertens.
I watched Hsieh play with Osty a few days ago and Osty was absolutely dreadful, especially at net.
If they get past the quarters they will be lucky.

Dab/Rout, Sinak/Towns and Mertens/Perez would roast them.

Yeah. Penko tries to play her singles style and it does not work

 

[tx10is]

AO is on! leylah lookin good in lulu

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

The disrespect for Iga to play on John Cain

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Loving LAF so far. SO early and doing SABR.
Her fitness coach now is Abdullah (Ex Naomi and Bianca)

 

[flyingboris]

Mirra seems to have gained a few mph on her groundstrokes. Hope she gets to make a deep run. Step 1: get past Bouzkova.

 

[Dunlop300g]

Wow indeed, kind of a shame. I wish both of them well, but I’m ready for a Kenin Grand Slam comeback story!

I'm good with that!

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Mirra seems to have gained a few mph on her groundstrokes. Hope she gets to make a deep run. Step 1: get past Bouzkova.

Mirra to win French Open.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Bouzkova really is a nightmare draw in the first round, she can basically run and retrieve forever.
She becomes less effective in later rounds, as her engine starts breaking down.

Meanwhile, Mirra seems to be assimilating Conchita's instructions to be more aggressive with a bit too much enthusiasm.

 

[flyingboris]

Mirra to win French Open.

I'm a sucker for Cinderella runs, make it happen Mirra!

 

[flyingboris]

Bouzkova looking a little discouraged right now. Mirra breaks to 4-3 with an exciting point.

 

[Mark-Touch]

She's wilting Mirra, can you feel it?
Now's the time to go in for the kill.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

She's wilting Mirra, can you feel it?
Now's the time to go in for the kill.

Aaaaand the roof is being closed.
Hope she keeps the momentum.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Refreshing to see Mirra charging the net.
The doubles play seems to be paying dividends.

 

[bezs]

Clouds really gloomy play on the outside courts suspended, nice to see that added more shade on the outside courts.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Forgot about daylight savings and that tennis started an hour earlier.

Andreeva crushing it, 6-3 on Bouzkova.

Rain has just started on the outside

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Solid set of tennis there by Andreeva.
Playing aggressive, charging the net and very good shot tolerance in extended rallies.
But Bouzkova is defeating herself too.