Women’s No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza continues her search for that elusive Grand Slam title in Melbourne, where she’ll participate in her fourth Australian Open singles tournament. Will Muguruza breeze past Estonian Annett Kontaveit? Or will Kontaveit trip Muguruza right in the first round?
[sc:AUS15-250 ]Aiming to make another big leap in the rankings this year, Kontaveit hopes to get off a good start this Grand Slam season with a win over big favorite, Garbine Muguruza.
Kontaveit’s chances of doing just that are pretty slim, but at least she won’t be intimidated by the bright lights in Melbourne having played before in other major events such as the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. In last year’s U.S. Open, Kontaveit made an inspired run into the fourth round, where she was beaten by Venus Williams in straight sets.
Nevertheless, her wins in that tournament, including one over 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, helped her make it into the top 100 of world rankings for the first time in her career. Moreover, she also won a title in 2015, topping the $50,000 ITF event in Eastbourne.
Kontaveit can be considered to be at her best when playing on hardcourts, as she has a 7-2 record in ITF finals events.
Considered by some as the next big thing in women’s tennis, Muguruza certainly has a lot of pressure riding on her shoulders this year. Among those expectations is finally winning a Grand Slam title, as she’s gone kaput in 12 Grand Slam events thus far in her career. She came pretty close last season, though, as she was a beaten finalist at Wimbledon to Serena Williams.
Ranked third in the world, Muguruza should be able to pass her first assignment in the Australian Open, as she’ll be going up against an 86th-ranked player in Kontaveit.
Muguruza last appeared in China, where she participated in the WTA Shenzhen Open early this month, winning her first two matches before succumbing to Alison Riske in the quarterfinals, 1-6, 6-3, 3-6.
Muguruza has a 45–25 hardcourt record over the last two years.
