AUSTRALIAN OPEN JANUARY 20 - FEBFRUARY 2, 2020 WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION MATCH NOTES MELBOURNE, AUS | JANUARY 20-FEBRUARY 2, 2020 | AUD $4,100,000 GRAND SLAM EVENT wtatennis.com | facebook.com/WTA | twitter.com/WTA | youtube.com/WTA Tournament Website: www.wtatennis.com | @AustralianOpen | facebook.com/AustralianOpen WTA Communications: Catherine Sneddon ([email protected]), Adam Lincoln ([email protected]) AUSTRALIAN OPEN - DAY 2 FEATURED MATCH-UPS KRISTINA MLADENOVIC (FRA #41) vs. [2] KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE #2) Series tied 2-2 Mladenovic looking for first main draw win of 2020... Pliskova one of three players in the draw who have yet to lose a match in 2020 [19] DONNA VEKIC (CRO #20) vs. [WC] MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS #145) Sharapova leads 1-0 Vekic contesting this fortnight at a career high seeding at a Grand Slam...Sharapova looking for her first Grand Slam match win since making R16 here last year [Q] ELISABETTA COCCIARETTO (ITA #175) vs. [17] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #18) First career meeting Cocciaretto making career Grand Slam main draw debut... Kerber last lost to a player outside the Top 100 at 2011 Wimbledon [6] BELINDA BENCIC (SUI #7) vs. ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA (SVK #203) Schmiedlova leads 1-0 Bencic enjoying her highest seeding at a Slam... Schmiedlova has fallen in 1r of last 11 Grand Slam main draw appearances AJLA TOMLJANOVIC (AUS #52) vs. [31] ANASTASIJA SEVASTOVA (LAT #33) Sevastova leads 2-0 Tomljanovic one of seven Australians competing on home soil... Sevastova owns 11-2 record against Australians JENNIFER BRADY (USA #49) vs. [4] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) Halep leads 1-0 Brady earned first Top 5 career win over Barty earlier this year...Halep is only player to be part of Top 4 seeds in Melbourne for five past years [5] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #5) vs. KATIE BOULTER (GBR #315) First career meeting Svitolina coming off back-toback SF Grand Slam showings at Wimbledon and US Open.. Boulter facing a Top 5 player for first time in career IRINA-CAMELIA BEGU (ROU #105) vs. [9] KIKI BERTENS (NED #10) Bertens leads 2-1 Trevisan making career Grand Slam debut... Kenin won three WTA titles last year to boost her into Top 20 WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION MATCH NOTES MELBOURNE, AUS | JANUARY 20-FEBRUARY 2, 2020 | AUD $4,100,000 GRAND SLAM EVENT wtatennis.com | facebook.com/WTA | twitter.com/WTA | youtube.com/WTA Tournament Website: www.wtatennis.com | @AustralianOpen | facebook.com/AustralianOpen WTA Communications: Catherine Sneddon ([email protected]), Adam Lincoln ([email protected]) AUSTRALIAN OPEN - DAY 1 SNAPSHOT MATCH-UPS POLONA HERCOG (SLO #48) vs. REBECCA PETERSON (SWE #44) Peterson leads 1-0 Hercog playing first match of 2020 season... Peterson won her first two career WTA titles in during 2019 Asian swing CARLA SUAREZ NAVARRO (ESP #54) vs. [11] ARYNA SABALENKA Sabalenka leads 3-0 Suarez Navarro announced she will retire after 2020 season... Sabalenka won three titles in final two months of 2019 season GARBINE MUGURUZA (ESP #32) vs. [Q] SHELBY ROGERS (USA #155) Muguruza leads 2-0 Muguruza has not advanced beyond first round at a Slam in last two appearances... Rogers missed last year’s Australian Open while recovering from knee surgery [16] ELISE MERTENS (BEL #17) vs. DANKA KOVINIC (MNE #86) First career meeting Mertens reached SF on debut here in 2018... Kovinic making first main draw appearance since 2017 Wimbledon WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION STATS & STORYLINES WTA NO.1 RANKING DEFENDING THE TITLE Ashleigh Barty will extend her stay at No.1 to 21 • Naomi Osaka is attempting to become just the consectuive weeks atop the WTA Rankings (28 ninth woman to successfully defend their title at the weeks overall. With her title run last week in Ade- Australian Open. Others to have completed this feat laide, she will hold onto that spot after this fortnight are Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Stefanie regardless of results. Barty first reached World No.1 Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, after winning back-to-back titles last at Roland Gar- Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. ros (her first Grand Slam victory) and Birmingham. • There have been 24 title defenses at Wimbledon, 22 The top seed has claimed the title 20 times in Mel- at the US Open, 21 at the Australian Open and 11 at bourne, most recently by Serena Williams in 2015. Roland Garros (post-1945): • 22 different women have successfully defended a Grand Slam singles title at least once in their careers QUEST FOR 24 • 10 different women have successfully defended two or more different Grand Slams • Serena Williams is one step closer to tying Austra- • Six defending champions have lost in the opening lia’s Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles round of their title defense: Graf (1994 Wimbledon), • Since the birth of Alexis Olympia (September 1, Capriati (2003 Australian Open), Myskina (2005 2017), Williams has competed at seven Slams, Roland Garros), Kuznetsova (2005 US Open), Ker- reaching the final on four occasions - 2018-19 Wim- ber (2017 US Open) and Ostapenko (2018 Roland bledon and 2018-19 US Open Garros) • Before 2019 where she fell in QF, she had reached • Victoria Azarenka (2012-13) was the last player to the finals in her last three appearances in Melbourne defend her title at the Australian Open winning in 2015 and 2017 • Williams owns an Open Era record 7 Australian TEENAGE KICKS Open titles and 81 Australian Open match wins • Has played and won more matches (85-11 record) • There are ten teenagers in the women’s singles main than any other woman in Australian Open history draw at the 2020 Australian Open. • American Coco Gauff (15) is the youngest player in the field at Melbourne this year, as well as direct entrants Amanda Anisimova (18), Iga Swiatek (18), STRONG STARTERS Anastasia Potapova (18) and Dayana Yastremska (19) Of the players with 10 or more Grand Slam appearances in • Five of the teenagers earned their spot in the main this year’s Australian Open draw, here are the players with draw through qualifying: Leylah Fernandez (17), the best strike rate in the opening round at a Grand Slam: Elisabetta Cocciaretto (18), Catherine Mcnally (18), Kaja Juvan (19), Ann Li (19) • Maria Sharapova (51-6 in 1r): Sharapova’s first • A teenager has won a Grand Slam singles title 34 round loss at the 2010 Australian Open (l. Kirilenko) times (13 different players) in the Open Era. At last snapped her streak of 24 consecutive first round wins year’s US Open, Bianca Andreescu (19 yrs, 83 days) at the majors became the first teenager to lift a major title since • Serena Williams (73-1 in 1r): Serena has lost in the Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open. The young- est player to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era opening round of a Grand Slam only once in herca- is Martina Hingis at 1997 Australian Open (16 years, reer, at 2012 Roland Garros (l.Razzano) 105 days). • Caroline Wozniacki (44-7 in 1r): Caroline’s first round loss at 2012 Wimbledon (l. Paszek) broke her streak of 20 successive first round wins at the Slams. • Madison Keys (26-3 in 1r): Keys has not fallen in the AMERICANS ABROAD first round on her past 20 major appearances • Garbiñe Muguruza (23-5 in 1r): Muguruza snapped As the most highly represented country, there were her streak of 20 consecutive first round wins at majors 22 Americans who started the main draw here in with her loss at 2019 Wimbledon (l. Haddad Maia). Melbourne - the most since 1999 when there were also 22. MATCH NOTES AUSTRALIAN OPEN - AUSTRALIA | Jan 20 - Feb 02, 2020 | $22,756,069 | GRAND SLAM KRISTINA MLADENOVIC (FRA #41) vs. [2] KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE #2) Head to Head: 2-2 2017 DUBAI HARD O R2 KRISTINA MLADENOVIC 6-2 6-4 75 mins 2016 FED CUP FINAL HARD I R1 KAROLINA PLISKOVA 6-3 4-6 16-14 2015 BIRMINGHAM GRASS O SF KAROLINA PLISKOVA 6-2 7-6(6) 81 mins 2014 MOSCOW HARD I R1 KRISTINA MLADENOVIC 6-3 7-5 72 mins KRISTINA MLADENOVIC KAROLINA PLISKOVA 41 WTA RANKING 2 66 PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD 2 14-05-1993 (26) DATE OF BIRTH (AGE) 21-03-1992 (27) $15,900 YTD PRIZE MONEY $272,450 $11,004,403 CAREER PRIZE MONEY $19,784,968 0 / 1 SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER) 1 / 16 0 / 22 DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER) 0 / 5 4-8 AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) * 18-7 0-0 / 197-198 YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) * 4-0 / 313-159 0-0 / 65-60 YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) * 3-0 / 103-58 0-0 / 48-52 YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) * 2-2 / 64-66 0-0 / 111-127 YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) * 4-0 / 223-106 0-0 / 11-18 YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) * 0-0 / 29-20 0-0 / 9-11 YTD / CAREER TOP 5 W-L (MD & Q) * 1-0 / 18-19 0-0 / 17-26 YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD & Q) * 1-0 / 32-39 0-0 / 34-55 YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD & Q) * 3-0 / 62-71 * Updated entering 2020 Australian Open 1r AUSTRALIAN OPEN Tournament Performance - 2020 "-Q" Qualifying match Rnd Rnd Result Duration Insights Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA from MATCH NOTES AUSTRALIAN OPEN - AUSTRALIA | Jan 20 - Feb 02, 2020 | $22,756,069 | GRAND SLAM AUSTRALIAN OPEN Tournament History "-Q" Qualifying match KRISTINA MLADENOVIC KAROLINA PLISKOVA 2019 2019 R1 L - DONNA VEKIC (CRO #29) 6-2 6-4 SF L - NAOMI OSAKA (JPN #4) 6-2 4-6 6-4 2018 2018 R1 L - ANA BOGDAN (ROU #104) 6-3 6-2 QF L - SIMONA HALEP (ROU #1) 6-3 6-2 2017 2017 R1 L - ANA KONJUH (CRO #36) 6-4 6-2 QF L - MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI (CRO #79) 6-4 3-6 6-4 2016 2016 R3 L - DARIA GAVRILOVA (AUS #39) 6-4 4-6 11-9 R3 L - EKATERINA MAKAROVA (RUS #24) 6-3 6-2 2015 2015 R2 L - BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS (USA #258) 7-6(3) 7-6(6) R3 L - EKATERINA MAKAROVA