5 prime contenders for the ladies’s title on the Australian Open, which begins on Monday.
IGA SWIATEK
Iga Swiatek is the agency favorite for the season’s first Grand Slam after a glowing and dominant 2022 season the place she went on a 37-match successful run and received eight titles, together with Roland Garros and the U.S. Open.
The world primary has had a lower than supreme begin to the New Yr, nonetheless. Swiatek suffered a shock defeat to Jessica Pegula within the United Cup and withdrew from the Adelaide occasion with a shoulder damage, which she’s going to hope to shake off in time for the foremost.
ONS JABEUR
Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur climbed as much as second within the rankings in a historic 2022 season the place she got here tantalisingly near turning into the primary African lady and the primary Arab to win a Grand Slam singles title.
After making the finals at each Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Tunisia’s “Minister of Happiness” will look to lastly go one step additional in Melbourne and add a significant to her three profession titles.
COCO GAUFF
Coco Gauff had the tennis world in a frenzy in 2019 when she certified for Wimbledon’s principal draw aged 15 and made a splash by reaching the fourth spherical.
At 18, Gauff remains to be trying to find her first Grand Slam title after falling quick eventually yr’s French Open and struggled on the WTA Finals, however will head to Melbourne brimming with confidence after a dominant title run in Auckland.
CAROLINE GARCIA
After an inauspicious begin to final season, Caroline Garcia scooped up titles in Cincinnati, Dangerous Homburg and Warsaw, reached her first Grand Slam semi-final on the U.S. Open, and received the season-ending WTA Finals to assert her largest profession title.
A sensational second half of the marketing campaign elevated the 29-year-old again to her career-high fourth spot within the rankings earlier than the Australian Open, the place she appears to be like set to take one other step in her exceptional resurgence.
JESSICA PEGULA
Jessica Pegula will enter the yr’s first Grand Slam at a career-high world quantity three and after one of many largest wins of her profession, having overwhelmed Iga Swiatek en path to main the USA to the inaugural United Cup title.
After successful probably the most prestigious title of her profession in Guadalajara, Pegula struggled on her WTA Finals debut however has proven no indicators of a 2022 hangover within the build-up to her fourth Australian Open marketing campaign, the place she has reached the quarter-finals twice.