2015 US Open First Round Predictions and Tennis Preview: Maria Sharapova vs. Daria Gavrilova & Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jamie Loeb

The hottest female tennis players (both competitively and aesthetically) are about to take center stage in the Big Apple on August 31st for the 2015 US Open.

Top-seeded beauties Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki are both equally eager to wrap up the WTA season with a win at the final Grand Slam event of the year. Standing in their paths, though, are two young up-and-comers looking to pull major upsets at Flushing Meadows.

Read on as we break down the two sizzling matches that will get the New York crowd fired up to kick-off the US Open on Monday in scorching fashion. And while we’re on the topic of being in heat, check out our special feature on the hottest female tennis players in the circuit today (and yes, Maria and Caroline are on that list), as well as our coverage on the first round US open matches of the Williams sisters.
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2015 US Open Women’s Singles First Round Preview

Maria Sharapova vs. Daria Gavrilova

Line: Maria Sharapova (-380) vs. Daria Gavrilova (+290) – view all US Open Women’s Singles lines

Will a rather lengthy break from the competition work against Maria Sharapova? The Russian phenom has not participated in any tournament since losing to Serena Williams in the semis of Wimbledon this past June. But taking some time to regroup herself may have been the right call, especially with the final Grand Slam of the event right around the corner.

[sc:Other240banner ]Sharapova has a more than respectable record of 34-7 this season. Yet somehow, we expected more than just the two titles she has won up to this point considering her being a top-flight contender ever since she broke into the WTA scene over a decade ago. Her underwhelming output so far should explain why she’s only priced at +800 to win this year’s US Open.

Awaiting Sharapova in the first round is fellow Russian Daria Gavrilova. The righty out of Moscow has had great success this year by winning a couple of ITF women’s singles titles and one WTA women’s doubles titles with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in Istanbul this July. The 37th-ranked Gavrilova is now looking to bag her first career WTA singles title to cap off what has been an amazing season in the works.

Luckily for Gavrilova, she’s no stranger in facing Sharapova on the court. The two ladies split their two career meetings and both of them took place just this 2015. Gavrilova won the first bout in the second round of the Miami Masters this March in straight sets, until Sharapova got even with a straight-sets victory of her own two months after at the Rome Masters semifinal round.

For Gavrilova to stay toe-to-toe with her fellow Soviet rival, she would have to improve in starting and closing out games. She’s has only managed to win 38.8 percent of her points on first serve returns, and convert just 47 percent of her break points. Sharapova, meanwhile, must continue to serve like a boss. She has won 80.4 percent of her service games this season.

Writer’s Prediction

Sharapova (-380) plays a sharp game en route to a composed 6-4, 6-1 win over Gavrilova.

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Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jamie Loeb

Line: Carolina Wozniacki (-1,500) vs. Jamie Loeb (+800) – view all US Open Women’s Singles lines

Apart from Sharapova, there’s another former World No. 1 that’s in quite a rut as well. Caroline Wozniacki (+2,500) has only one title to her credit this season, and her record of 30-16 is unbecoming of a World No. 3 player such as her. To make matters worse, she was granted first round byes in her past three events (Cincinnati, Toronto and Stanford) only for her to squander the upper hand with opening match losses in all of those tournaments.

But if there’s one Grand Slam that Wozniacki looks forward to every year, it’s got to be the one here in Flushing Meadows. The Danish damsel has reached the final round of the US Open twice, once in 2009 and the other just last season, and lost both of those occasions to Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams respectively. A third trip to the final round of the US Open could work like a charm as the proverbial saying goes, but she has some stiff competition to plow over first before we begin touting her return to peak form.

Expect the Arthur Ashe Stadium to be rocking when Jamie Loeb makes her US Open debut. Loeb, a native of Ossining, New York, earned a wild card berth to the US Open last Tuesday. If her credentials from the collegiate level are any indication of what we could expect at Flushing Meadows, Wozniacki may be in for a long, grueling afternoon.

As a former Tarheel, Loeb won two-straight ACC Player of the Year awards in as many collegiate seasons in UNC. The smashing 20-year old has a lifetime record of 84-9, and she also won this year’s NCAA women’s singles tennis title back in May. She also already has four ITF titles locked up, so it won’t be a matter of time before she takes the WTA by storm.

An impressive showing – all the more an upset of Wozniacki – at the US Open will at least nab her some sweet endorsement deals while she continues to improve and earn her brass through the rungs of professional competition.

Writer’s Prediction

Loeb makes an electric debut, but Wozniacki’s (-1,500) experience wins out in the end for a 6-3, 6-4 finish.
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