Venus Williams is back in the third round of the Australian Open. The 36-year-old American booked her ticket to the round of 32 after a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Stefanie Voegele.
Williams’ performance against Voegele – 64 percent second serve points won, 51 percent return points won, just 24 unforced errors – was quite an improvement on her first-round showing. In that match, Venus committed 48 unforced errors as she labored to a 7-6(5) 7-5 win over Kateryna Kozlova.
Williams is dealing with an arm injury which forced her out of the Auckland Classic. That injury, coupled with Williams’ shaky history in the Australian Open, is cause for some concern. Williams had crashed out in the first round of the Aussie Open in two of her previous three appearances, and has not reached the fourth round in four of her last five tries.
But Venus has the overwhelming advantage in terms of experience on the big stage over her opponent, she could see her through to the round of 16.
After previously crashing out in the first round in 2014 and 2015, World No. 87 Ying-Ying is in the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.
She got past Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, and survived a grueling three-set second round match with Varvara Lepchenko as she came away with the win, 6-1, 3-6, 10-8. Duan committed 43 unforced errors in that match, but she was bailed out by her good return game. She won 47 percent of return points and converted 7-of-13 break points. She has now converted 11-of-19 break points in the tournament thus far.
Duan is having a very strong start to 2017. She made it all the way to the quarterfinals of her first tournament of the season in Sydney, beating World No. 35 Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets in the round of 16 before falling to Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarters.
The 27-year-old Duan now finds herself in some uncharted waters Down Under. Duan’s previous best performance in a Grand Slam was the second round of Wimbledon in 2015 and 2016, as well as last year’s US Open. But she faces an opponent in Williams who might not be at 100 percent, which opens the door for a possible upset.
Writer’s Prediction
Duan (+200) scores one of the biggest wins of her career as Venus once again crashes out early in Australia.
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