Wozniacki was quick to climb the rankings in her early years as a pro, as she constantly improved her standings in her first couple of years, and even cracked the top spot in 2010. Although she’s only 20th right now, her accolades should be enough to consider her as a good sleeper pick for the tournament.
The danish has 25 WTA single titles under her belt, along with appearing in two US open finals, two US Open semis, one WTA Tour Championship, and one Australian Open semis.
In the last four months, she was able to bag two open championships – one each in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Cibulkova’s the equivalent of a “run and gun” team in basketball. She plays a fast-paced, aggressive style of attack, and with her imposing play, she has become one of the elite tennis players in the division (ranked fifth).
The Grand Slam tournament seems to be an event she thrives on. In all of her four appearances, she was able to reach the quarterfinals, semis, or finals.
She also has a pretty respectable record, both in the Australian Open (17-9, 52.9 percent), and overall (392-249, 61.1 percent). In 2016, she won four of her seven tournament finals.
Additionally, she also has big wins in four of the five women ahead of her in the rankings.
Pliskova also plays aggressively, and is known to have one of the strongest serves in the women’s division. She’s one spot ahead of Cibulkova in the rankings.
Along with 17 single titles (10 in ITF and seven in WTA), she also boasts a great win over Serena Williams in last year’s US Open, dominating the the tennis royalty, 6-2 7-65 , and also ousting her out of the tournament in the process.
The Czech simply has great momentum coming in, and should be able to have a deep run in the tournament. After the usual favorites – Williams and Angelique Kerber – Pliskova is easily one of the better choices in capturing the Australian Open.
