Last year's women's champions, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, will not defend their doubles title at this year's Australian Open. Safarova is missing this year's tournament due to ongoing health issues. Mattek-Sands will team up with Sabine Lisicki. The top seed in the women's draw features the two co-number one ranked doubles players, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.
The women's draw traditionally has been home to some surprises with an unseeded team winning the title twice since 2012. That included last year's champions Safarova and Mattek-Sands. An unseeded team has made the final three of the last four years. This year however, it is the field - Mirza-Hingis, who have been by far the most dominant team on tour since last March.
Australian Open Women's Doubles Draw Preview
First Quarter: Mirza-Hingis (1)
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have been unstoppable, literally, since the U.S. Open last fall. The top seeds have won 30 sraight matches, notching seven titles along the way. That includes two already in 2016. They did not start teaming up until Indian Wells last year, so this is their first go-around as a team at the Australian Open. They won both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles' titles in 2015 and are firm favorites in this draw. The 6th seeds on the opposite side of this quarter are Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears.
The other two seeded teams in this quarter are 12th seeds Coco Vandeweghe and Anna-Lena Groenefeld along with 14th seeds Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson. Bertens-Larsson had a nice run in Auckland cut short due to an injury to Larsson. She appeared just fine in winning her first round singles match in Melbourne, so they could be a team to watch. An interesting unseeded team to monitor in this quarter is Roberta Vinci and Svetlana Kuznetsova. The two veterans paired up in Sydney, so they have some experience together. Vinci's former partner when they won back-to-back titles here in 2013 and 2014 is Sara Errani. She is teaming up with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Top Seed Predictions
(1) Mirza-Hingis: Semifinals
There is no reason to go against this juggernaut with this draw. Mirza-Hingis should continue their win streak until at least the semifinals, if not all the way through to the title.
(6) Atawo-Spears: Quarterfinals
This American tandem isn't one to take lightly. They made the WTA Finals last year along with a semifinal run at Wimbledon. They also made the quarterfinals last year in Melbourne. Their experience together should give them an edge over some of the make-shift duos in their part of the quarter.
Quarterfinal Prediction
(1) Mirza-Hingis def. (6) Atawo-Spears
Second Quarter: Mladenovic-Garcia (3)
The French pairing of Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia is a good one. They've already gone head-to-head with Mirza-Hingis twice this season and took the number one team to a super tiebreak both times. Even though they did not win, they might be one of the few teams with the confidence that they can compete with the top tandem. The seed opposite of them is the Russian pairing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina. The 5th seeds have experience together with Vesnina the better doubles player of the two. Vesnina teamed up with Ekaterina Makarova last year to make the quarterfinals at last year's Australian Open, plus a semifinal at the French Open and a final at Wimbledon. The other seeds in this quarter are 11th seeds Samantha Stosur and Yaroslava Shvedova along with Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova as the 13th seeds.
Darija Jurak and Nicole Melichar are an unseeded team to watch in this quarter. The Croatian-American combo started teaming up late in 2015 and have some decent chemistry. They are pretty unlikely to stop the top tier seeds in this quarter though. Jelena Jankovic and Andrea Petkovic are interesting floaters in this section. They could face the 5th seeded Russians in round two and pose a difficult match-up. Nothing else inspires much hope a big upset in this quarter.
Top Seed Predictions
(3) Mladenovic-Garcia: Semifinals
The Frenchwomen look a good bet to run through this part of the quarter, so long as they don't get side tracked with the potential singles run Mladenovic may go on. Goerges-Pliskova will likely be their toughest match along the way, but they seem strong enough to survive.
(5) Pavlyuchenkova-Vesnina: Third Round
The bottom part of this quarter looks like it might be upset prone and I think the Russians are capable of being beaten. Shvedova-Stosur or perhaps one of the floaters in this quarter might end their run before the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinal Prediction
(3) Mladenovic-Garcia def. (11) Shvedova-Stosur
Third Quarter: Srebotnik-Babos (4)
Katerina Srebotnik is a doubles stalwart with 36 career doubles titles, but is breaking in a new partner in Timea Babos. Srebotnik played most of 2015 with Caroline Garcia. The seeds in the other half of the quarter are Andreja Klepac and Lara Arruabarrena. The 8th seeds teamed up in Sydney and lost handily in their lone match of the year. They have partnered up before, so there is chemistry there as shown in their quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open last year. The other seeds are number nines Irina-Carmella Begu and Monica Niculescu and 15th seeds Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng. Xu-Zheng have good experience and Zheng has made two slam quarterfinals in her doubles career.
Half of last year's championship team is in this quarter in Mattek-Sands, who is teamed up with Sabine Lisicki. Mattek-Sands has made the quarterfinals here twice in addition to her title run last year with Safarova. Lisicki rarely plays doubles outside of slams, but she did team with Hingis last year to win in Brisbane. That shows that the right partner can make her team into a viable one. The other unseeded team to watch are the Rodionova sisters from Australia. Arina and Anastasia will be teaming up at the Australian Open for the third time. The elder sister Anastasia is the more accomplished doubles player with seven career Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Top Seed Predictions
(4) Srebotnik-Babos: Third Round
They have the benefit of a decent draw where Xu-Zheng would be the toughest match-up in the first three rounds. This team doesn't have any sort of unbeatable aura surrounding it though, so they may be bounced earlier than their seed would assume.
(8) Klepac-Arruabarrena: First Round
Although this team has the experience, they are also vulnerable. They have the tougher part of the draw to deal with and this columnist thinks one of the unseeded teams will get them early. The guess is the Rodionovas in round one, if not, Mattek-Sands and Lisicki could pull the upset in round two.
Quarterfinal Prediction
Mattek-Sands/Lisicki def. (15) Xu-Zheng
Fourth Quarter: The Chans (2)
Yung-Jan Chan teamed with Jie Zheng to make last year's Australian Open final. This time, she is partnered with her sister Hao-Ching Chan. Czech 7th seeds Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova are in the top half of the quarter. There are two other troublesome teams seeded in this quarter. The 10th seeded Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Aranxta Parra Santonja bring big match experience with Garrigues being a two-time French Open doubles champ. The 16th seeds are Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska. Rosolska will be playing in her 10th Australian Open.
An American team of Varvara Lepchenko and Irina Falconi could produce some results in this quarter. Lepchenko made the quarterfinals in Melbourne back in 2013 with Saisai Zheng as her partner. The other unseeded teams in this quarter would be surprises to make deep runs, but Chinese pair Chen Liang and Shuai Peng might be that.
Top Seed Predictions
(2) The Chans: Quarterfinals
They have been vulnerable with some early season losses, but they do have a nice early draw. That should set them up to at least have a shot to get to the quarterfinals, but that might be the end of the line.
(7) Hradecka-Hlavackova: Semifinals
The two time Grand Slam winners have the tougher half of the draw with the 10th seeded Spaniards in their way early. The Czechs made the semifinals in 2012, but have had issues getting back to that level in Melbourne. This is a good draw for them to change that.
Quarterfinal Prediction
(7) Hradecka-Hlavackova def. (2) The Chans
Semifinal Predictions
(1) Mirza-Hingis def. (3) Mladenovic-Garcia
Mattek-Sands/Lisicki def. (7) Hradecka-Hlavackova
Final Prediction
(1) Mirza-Hingis def. Mattek-Sands/Lisicki