Australian Open Women`s Singles Draw Throws Up Intrigue

Whilst the top two ranked players in the women`s singles division of the Australian Open should progress through to the second round with ease, there are a number of tasty ties amongst the rest of the top seeds that should make for some fantastic viewing.

Serena Williams takes on Belgian youngster Alison van Uytvanck in the pair`s first ever on-court meeting, whilst second seed Maria Sharapova hopes to make it 2-0 in her head-to-head record against Croatian Petra Martic. Sharapova has previously dumped the Croatian out in the first round of the Miami Open back in 2011 and is 1/40 (betfred, Stan James) to reaffirm her hard court supremacy over the 23-year-old. That encounter ended 6-3, 6-2 and it`s 9/50 on the Russian beating her opponent in two sets again.

Those fancying an early surprise can back Martic, ranked 184 in the world, at 14/1 with both bet365 and boylesports. paddy Power`s 1/7 says the match outsider will fail to pick up a set.

Again, 1/40 (Titanbet) suggests that Williams will open her Australian open account with an easy victory. Otherwise it is 19/1 (888sport) should you think van Uytvanck can cause her own early stage upset. Of those interesting remaining ties, Eugenie Bouchard will look to defeat German 20-year-old Anna-Lena Friedsam in a repeat of the players` quarter-final in Maribor back in 2012.

It was Friedsam who went on to win that match despite dropping the first set and can be backed at 21/2 (32red, 888sport, unibet) to do the double over the Canadian. william hill`s 50/1 says the 98 rank can`t lose the first set and win again.

Last year`s semi-finalist is available at 1/16 with both Coral and Spreadex, with 1/4 with the latter being the price on the world number seven earning a two set victory.

Six to one (william hill) says the result will be decided in three sets.

Elsewhere, Simona Halep takes on world number 50 Karin Knapp in what should be one of the closest battles of the round. Romanian Halep is only 1/11 (888sport, unibet) to progress through to the second round following her quarter final finish last year. Her opponent can be backed at 8/1 with paddy Power.

Should Knapp, a 27-year-old Italian, get the beating of her European rival, she will have reached the second round of this competition three times and equal her best ever finishes down under. She exited at the second round stage at the hands of Galina Voskoboeva back in 2009 (6-4, 6-1) before being run aground by the aforementioned Sharapova in a close run three set battle, the third set eventually ending 10-8 to the Russian.

Another of the title favourites, Petra Kvitova, looks good for a first round win at odds of 1/25 (ladbrokes) after being drawn against 22-year-old Richel Hogenkamp who has just managed to break into the top 200.

Bet365 and boylesports have priced the spirited Dutch youngster up at 14/1 to be able to claim the victory. Kvitova`s preparations for the tournament couldn`t have gone much better after getting her hands on the Sydney International. She was only taken to three sets on one occasion during the course of this competition and is 17/100 (betway) to not need that third set against Hogenkamp either.

In other news, last year`s runner-up Dominika Cibulkova is only the slight favourite to progress through to round two by defeating Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium. The former can be backed at 1/3 (Skybet), whilst the latter is 5/2 with a number of bookmakers.

The Ukrainian holds a 3-2 record over Flipkens, their record reading 2-0 on hard surfaces. Both these hard court battles ended in two sets in Cibulkova`s favour and it is 17/20 (betway) to see the 25-year-old continue in this vein.

Go To bet365

#Ad

17/01/2015     © Frixo 2026