The women’s opening round matches at the Australian Open 2025 will continue on Monday and Tuesday, January 13-14 as with Cori Gauff and Ons Jabeur taking to court for their openers. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Melbourne.
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Cori Gauff v Sofia Kenin Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been three previous meetings between these two players and surprise, surprise, Kenin leads Gauff 2-1 which includes a win for her at the 2023 Wimbledon as well.
Cori Gauff has made a sterling start to the season and that’s put her as one one of the favourites to win the Australian Open.
While she was always there and thereabouts when it came to being a Grand Slam favourite, her 5-0 record at the United Cup to kick-start the season would have given her even more confidence she can break Aryna Sabalenka’s hold on this tournament.
Put that down next to Gauff crushing Iga Swiatek in straight sets of the final of that competition and she would be in the seventh heaven, having earlier also eased past Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Shuai Zhang and Karolina Muchova, all in straight sets.
It’s not that Sofia Kenin hasn’t had a decent start to the season but being a former Grand Slam winner, she would have loved to do so much better than the 3-2 record she has accumulated in the early season.
A second round loss at the Auckland Open was followed by a couple of wins in Hobart before Maya Joint proved to be a surprise winner.
Can she use some of the experience from her previous wins over Gauff to manifest a shock result here?
Gauff v Kenin prediction: Gauff to win in straight sets: 1/4
Ons Jabeur v Anhelina Kalinina Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been two previous meetings between these two players and Jabeur has won them both – in Charleston in 2022 and in Cincinnati in 2023.
Ons Jabeur has come back to the tour following her fitness concerns over the past couple of seasons a fitter player and she would like to convert that into something substantial here at the Australian Open.
Traditionally, Jabeur hasn’t done very well at this major, having made the quarterfinals just once back in 2020 and having followed up with back to back second round exits over the last two editions.
She did well to win three rounds in a row in Brisbane but would be disappointed with the manner in which she folded against Mirra Andreeva and a straight-set loss to Yulia Putintseva.
While she looks to be playing some good tennis, Jabeur will need to replicate that more consistently over longer periods of time to try and get to the second week of this competition.
Jabeur does have a tough opener though. She takes on the world number 48, Anhelina Kalinina who played in Brisbane too and made the semifinal on the back of shock wins over Diana Shnaider, Wang Yafan and Yue Yuan.
While she is a distant 17/10 to overcome the Jabeur challenge, Kalinina could prove to be a thorn in the flesh for the former world number two here.
Jabeur v Kalinina prediction: Three sets in the match: 5/4
Karolina Muchova v Nadia Podoroska Preview
Head-to-Head: At the highest level their only meeting came at the 2023 French Open and Muchova had won that encounter. They did feature in an ITF competition on a hardcourt surface way back in 2016 where Podoroska won in three.
It’s been a bit of an up and down start to the season for Karolina Muchova who was a part of Czech Republic’s squad for the United Cup.
She played her part in helping her team get to the semifinals but of the four singles matches Muchova played and she won and lost two. That being said, those losses came at the hands of Iga Swiatek and Cori Gauff, while she eased past Malene Helgo and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets.
Up against the world number 95 Nadia Podoroska, Muchova should be confident enough to put the match beyond her opponent.
Especially given that Podoroska has won a grand total of three hardcourt matches over the nine editions of Australian Open and US Open combined.
Backing Muchova to get this done in double quick time.
Muchova v Podoroska prediction: Muchova to win in straight sets: 1/4
Ajla Tomljanovic v Ashlyn Krueger Preview
Head-to-Head: Their only previous meeting came in the qualifiers of the Adelaide International held last week and Krueger had eased to a straight-set win over Tomljanovic.
Following an injury-stricken season in 2023 where Ajla Tomljanovic fell to 290th in the world, she has been trying to claw back to her best. A best that had seen her rise to 32nd in the world at one point.
And she could do with a lot more tennis to be able to do that than she has had this season so far.
Featuring in the qualifiers of the Adelaide International as her first match of the year, Tomljanovic was sent packing by Ashlyn Krueger and that ended her pre-Australian Open routine.
She will now be forced to take on the same opponent who had not only beaten her in only previous match but also is coming off some strong showing in 2025 so far.
Krueger made the quarterfinal at the Brisbane International at the expense of Anna Kalinskaya in Brisbane and then repeated that showing in Adelaide as well.
Where one might worry a tad about Krueger’s prospects is to do with her thigh injury that she suffered against Jessica Pegula at the Adelaide International forcing her to retire from the encounter.
That could tilt the scales back into Tomljanovic’s favour or more realistically, even things out.
Tomljanovic v Krueger prediction: Tomljanovic to win a set – Yes: 4/5
Other Australian Open 2025 Predictions of the Day
- TBA
