Thursday, January 12, 2023

Australian Open Draw: Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur top the field

MELBOURNE, Australia -- The draw for the season's first Grand Slam has been revealed at the 2023 Australian Open. The ceremony was conducted on Thursday afternoon at Melbourne Park.

For the complete draw, click here.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek returns to Melbourne Park after posting her best result last year when she made her first hard-court Slam semifinal. The next highest seed in Swiatek's top quarter is No.7 Coco Gauff, and the two could face in the quarterfinals. Gauff kicked off her season by winning all ten sets she played in Auckland to win the ASB Classic.

The second quarter sees No.3 Jessica Pegula and No.6 Maria Sakkari. Pegula comes into her most successful Slam full of confidence after leading Team USA to the inaugural United Cup title. A quarterfinalist in Melbourne in her past two appearances, Pegula went 4-1 at United Cup to open her year, including a stunning straight-sets win over No.1 Swiatek.

Landing in the bottom half of the draw are No.2 Ons Jabeur, No.4 Caroline Garcia, No.5 Aryna Sabalenka and No.8 Daria Kasatkina. Jabeur was unable to play the Australian Open last year due to injury. Despite nursing a back injury in Adelaide 1, the Tunisian has made the final at her previous two Slam appearances and remains an all-surface threat.

Jabeur could face a confident Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka opened her season by ending a 19-month title drought, dominating the field to win her 11th career title at Adelaide 1.

No comments: