Five women who could pose a challenge to Kerber, Williams
DEFENDING champion Angelique Kerber and world No 2 Serena Williams are the top contenders at the Australian Open starting on Monday. Here are five women who could challenge them:
ý Agnieszka Radwanska was a semifinalist in Melbourne last year and has made the last eight in five of the past six years, making her a key threat.
Now 27 and ranked third in the world, she is desperate to end her long wait for a first grand slam crown and the Australian Open may be her best opportunity.
She won three tournaments last year.
Nicknamed The Magician for her seemingly impossible shot-making, the Pole lost in the build-up Shenzhen Open this month in the quarterfinals.
ý Diminutive and aggressive Romanian baseliner Simona Halep embarrassingly slumped out in the first round to a qualifier at Melbourne Park last year when seeded second, and will be keen to make amends.
It was later revealed that she was struggling with a nose issue and she fought her way back into form to win titles in Madrid, at home in Bucharest, and Montreal last year.
With Lleyton Hewitt’s old coach, Darren Cahill, by her side the athletic Halep, 25, will be confident of getting her season off on the right foot and at least matching her feats of 2014 and 2015, when she made the quarterfinals.
She heads into the tournament as the world No 4 and in search of her first grand slam title.
ý The tattooed and tall Karolina Pliskova, whose twin sister Kristyna is also on the tennis tour, had a breakthrough season in 2015 when she finished as world No 11, and followed it up last year by making the US Open final, losing to Kerber.
She is now coached by David Kotyza, who helped guide fellow Czech Petra Kvitova to two Wimbledon titles and has also been working with Caroline Wozniacki.
He said this month that Pliskova, 24, had all the attributes to become a grand slam champion.
She has failed to go past the third round in four previous attempts but has had the perfect preparation by winning the lead-up Brisbane International, which helped her climb the rankings to five.
ý Tiny Slovak Dominika Cibulkova, 27, powered into the 2014 Australian Open final for her best showing yet at a grand slam, losing to Li Na.
But she crashed in the first round last year.
Undeterred, she bounced back to claim titles at Katowice and Eastbourne before becoming the surprise winner of the end-of-season WTA Finals.
It helped propel her to a careerhigh fifth in the world, although she has since slipped down a notch.
It nevertheless makes her a serious contender at Melbourne Park, despite rocky preparations when she was bundled out in both Brisbane and Sydney in round two.
ý Big-hitting Garbine Muguruza announced her arrival as a major force with a shock straight-sets victory over Serena Williams in the French Open final last year for her maiden grand slam triumph, but consistency has been elusive.
Since making waves at the Australian Open in 2014, she has had to grapple with expectations.
Now 23 and ranked seventh, she says the challenges of past years have served her well in managing the pressure.
Known for her powerful groundstrokes, the Spaniard will be hoping to do better than the fourth round, still her best effort to date at Melbourne Park.