Women’s first round action at the Australian Open 2025 continues on Monday, January 13 with Jessica Pegula, Diana Shnaider and Jodie Burrage among those in action today. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Melbourne.
- Get all the remaining tennis betting tips and predictions of the day here
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Jessica Pegula v Maya Joint Preview
Head-to-Head: Pegula and Joint will be facing off for the first time.
Jessica Pegula enters the Australian Open with some tennis under her belt after she took to court at the Adelaide International.
The world number six began well at the tournament, overcoming Maria Sakkari, Ashlyn Krueger and Yulia Putintseva without dropping a set to reach the semifinal.
At that stage, however, fellow countrywoman Madison Keys brought her A game to the match and overcame Pegula in a fighting three-setter.
Pegula wouldn’t mind that too much given the tournament was held in the week prior to the start of the Australian Open and she wouldn’t have quite wanted to have played on Saturday in the final, just two days prior to the start of her opener here.
Interestingly, she takes on Aussie Maya Joint who has been awarded a wildcard for this tournament. Nobody would be begrudging her that though after the kind of performances she put up in the lead-up to the season’s first major.
Joint made the second round at the Brisbane International but in an even stronger display, she overcame Magda Linette and Sofia Kenin on her way to the semifinal in Hobart.
So while we would be backing Pegula here, we also think things could get a little stiffer for the world number seven than she would have hoped.
Pegula v Joint prediction: Pegula to win in straight sets: 8/13
Diana Shnaider v Elisabetta Cocciaretto Preview
Head-to-Head: These players have faced off three times at the highest level, all of which came in 2024. It’s 2-1 in favourite of Cocciaretto, having beaten her at Charleston and Birmingham last year.
Diana Shnaider enters the Australian Open ranked 13th in the world having had a ball of a time in 2024. Having never won a title in her career before the last season, Shnaider stunned the world with four to her kitty!
What made her a player to reckon was the fact that Shnaider’s tournament wins came on hardcourt, clay and grass surfaces – in Hua Hin, Hong Kong, Bad Homburg and Budapest.
Which is why it was a bit of a surprise that Shnaider’s start to this season has been so underwhelming.
She was beaten in her opener by Anhelina Kalinina at Brisbane and while she made the quarterfinal in Adelaide, Yulia Putintseva got the better of her there.
As a result, Elisabetta Cocciaretto will think she has a chance here despite losing the only match she has played in 2025. That defeat came in Hobart to Veronika Kudermetova.
We could see a bit of a battle here despite the stark difference in their rankings.
Shnaider v Cocciaretto prediction: Over 19.5 games in the match: 11/13
Jodie Burrage v Leolia Jeanjean Preview
Head-to-Head: They have never faced off at this level while their only previous match came on the ITF circuit where Burrage won in two.
Jodie Burrage recently admitted she was contemplating retiring from the sport after a spurt of injuries kept her out of competitive tennis for a while.
As a result of her continuing absence, Burrage has fallen to 173rd in the world and made it to the main draw here only on the grounds of her protected ranking.
She started the season out with an ouster from the Auckland Open qualifiers only for her to make it to the second round there after making it through as a lucky loser. A defeat to Hailey Baptiste there was followed by another qualifying loss at the hands of Leylah Fernadez in Adelaide.
Her opponent here, Leolia Jeanjean has never been a top 100 player and her current ranking of 149th meant that she was forced to come through to the main draw here in the qualifiers.
Jeanjean scraped through the first two before winning the final qualifying round in straight sets but is more known for her performances on clay. That makes Burrage a bit of a favourite here.
Burrage v Jeanjean prediction: Burrage to win: 4/6
Irina-Camelia Begu v Elena-Gabriela Ruse Preview
Head-to-Head: Their only previous meeting came at the 2020 Turneu Amical where Ruse won the clay-court encounter in straight sets to win the title.
Irina Begu started off the season with an appearance at the Adelaide International qualifiers but all that she managed to do was to get to the second round of qualifying there. Leylah Fernandez ended her campaign in a jiffy.
This follows a really poor season for Begu on hardcourt surfaces last year with the Romanian player featuring in only three matches in total all year and winning just one.
On the other hand hand, Elena-Gabriela Ruse was once ranked 51st in the world but has ended outside the top 100 every since season since being 87th at end of 2021.
She has already fallen four places this year after opting not to feature in any of the competitions before the Australian Open qualifiers but three successive wins there should give her some respite.
In hardcourt competitions, Ruse has a better record than Begu and that gives her a good chance of making it four wins in a row at.
Begu v Ruse prediction: Ruse to win: 4/6
Other Australian Open 2025 Predictions of the Day
- Magdalena Frech v Polina Kudermetova: Kudermetova to win: 4/6
