After a thrilling first week of tennis which gave the new WTA season a perfect start, the tour continues in Australia to give the players the perfect conditions to prepare for the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open. One of the two events in the second week of the tour would be the Hobart International and top-seed Kiki Bertens would lead the field in vying for the title.
Who is playing
The top two seeds for this International event would be Kiki Bertens and Anastasija Sevastova. It was a career-best season for Bertens in 2016 as she broke into the top 30 by virtue of her semifinal finish at the Roland Garros and is now on the verge of breaking into the top 20. Whereas, the Latvian had a poor start to the season after she wasted match point opportunity against Kristyna Pliskova in her first round match at Shenzhen only to eventually lose the match. A good performance here in Hobart could see Sevastova rise into the world’s top 30 once again and gain some momentum entering into the Australian Open.
Former top 30 players Alize Cornet, Monica Niculescu and Kristina Mladenovic would make a return to the city in Tasmania with the hope of making a deep run here. Cornet would return to this tournament with the status of a defending champion after she won the title here last year losing just one set along the way. (Note: Alize Cornet has withdrawn due to a back injury, with Johanna Larsson replacing her seeding position)
Alison Riske, Misaki Doi and Ana Konjuh round up the seeds, with Riske and Konjuh already making the finals in their respective WTA events in the first week of the year. (Note: Riske and Konjuh have already withdrawn from the competition after the article was written, and their seeding positions would be replaced by Naomi Osaka, who would be the ninth seed, and Sara Errani, who would be the tenth seed.)
Former top 10 players Sara Errani, Lucie Safarova, Jelena Jankovic and Andrea Petkovic would also be looking to make a title challenge to push them up the rankings and return to the top.
The draw was largely affected by the withdrawals as Ana Konjuh, Katerina Siniakova, Alison Riske and Julia Goerges all withdrew from the tournament after Konjuh, Siniakova and Riske reached the finals in their first events of the season and Goerges reached the semifinal in Auckland, with all of the players (except for Konjuh, who stated a foot injury) stating a “Change of schedule” as the reason for the withdrawals. This meant that everyone who is in the final qualifying round would enter the main draw, no matter win or lose, as there are going to be four lucky loser spots available.
Draw Preview
First Quarter
Top seed Kiki Bertens would face a tough match-up in her opening round match against Annika Beck, who would be a tricky opponent as both had some tight affairs in the past. Nevertheless, the 5-0 head-to-head record in favour of Bertens would give her the confidence to get past the German. The winner of this match would then either face Pauline Parmentier or Galina Voskoboeva, and Bertens would want that opponent to be the player returning from an injury, the Kazakhstani, as she has a 0-3 head-to-head record against the Frenchwoman and it would be a tough match-up for her.
The bottom of the first quarter would see seventh seed Kristina Mladenovic earn an easy draw as she would face either a qualifier or a lucky loser in both the first round and the second round after her original opposition Sara Errani was promoted to the 10th seed.
Quarterfinal Prediction: Mladenovic d. Parmentier
Second Quarter
Fifth seed Misaki Doi would have an easy match-up in her opening match as she was drawn against wildcard Lizette Cabrera in the first round, before a potential match against yet another wildcard in Francesca Schiavone, who is a former Roland Garros champion.
The bottom half of the second quarter features yet another blockbuster match as ninth seed Naomi Osaka would open her campaign against the former top 10 player in Andrea Petkovic and the winner would face a qualifier or a lucky loser in the second round. Osaka was troubled by injury concerns last week as she was forced to retire from her quarterfinal match in Auckland due to a left wrist injury, putting her participation here in Hobart into doubt.
Quarterfinal Prediction: Petkovic d. Doi
Third Quarter
The third quarter of the draw is also very tough as five of the eight players are all ranked in the top 60 and it features two former top 10 players in Jelena Jankovic and Lucie Safarova. 10th seed Sara Errani would face a qualifier or a lucky loser in her first round match as Julia Goerges withdrew from the competition, causing that place to be unfilled. It would be a tough second round match for Errani if she were to get through as it would either be Viktorija Golubic or 2015 Roland Garros runner-up Lucie Safarova waiting in the second round.
Third seed Monica Niculescu would face a very tough opponent in former world number one Jelena Jankovic, whose luck has been down recently after she drawn Simona Halep in the first round of Shenzhen, and now Niculescu here in Hobart. The winner of this must-see match would most probably face Kirsten Flipkens in the second round.
Quarterfinal Prediction: Safarova d. Jankovic
Fourth Quarter
Alize Cornet would face Kristyna Pliskova, the twin sister of her opponent in the Brisbane International final, in the opening round in Hobart. (Note: Johanna Larsson has taken Cornet's place in the draw as the 11th seed) If she were to get past the hard-hitting Czech, Larsson would either face a qualifier/lucky loser or Lesia Tsurenko in the second round.
The bottom half of the last quarter would see second seed Anastasija Sevastova face a tough opening round match against Roland Garros quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers, before having a potential match against Lara Arruabarrena.
Quarterfinal Prediction: Rogers d. Kr. Pliskova
Semifinal and Finals Prediction
Semifinals Predictions: Petkovic d. Mladenovic, Safarova d. Rogers
Final Prediction: Safarova d. Petkovic