The women’s singles opening round matches at the Australian Open 2025 will begin on Sunday, January 12 as Qinwen Zheng, Leylah Fernandez and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova take to court for their openers. 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
- Also read what’s a Tennis Betting Accumulator here
Qinwen Zheng v Anca Todoni Preview
Head-to-Head: Zheng and Todoni have never faced off in a competitive match before this.
After the kind of season that Qinwen Zheng had in 2024, she would know it might not be easy to replicate it.
For starters, she would need to make it all the way to the final of this competition in order to defend those points she had won by getting there in 2024.
What’s surprising to see is that Qinwen hasn’t played in a single tournament this season to tune up for the season’s first major, having pulled out of the United Cup. It wasn’t because of fitness concerns either with the Chinese number one announcing she wanted to rest properly in the lead-up to the tournament.
Which is why she would be glad to be facing Anca Todoni, a player ranked outside the top 100 at the moment as she looks to slide into the season as gently as she can.
Todoni has hit a career-best ranking of 110th after making the second round at the Brisbane International earlier this season but that wasn’t enough to give her a direct qualification here. As a result she won three in a row in the qualifiers to make the main draw but up against Qinwen, she might not have much of a chance.
Zheng v Todoni prediction: Qinwen to win in straight sets: 4/9
Leylah Fernandez v Yulia Starodubtseva Preview
Head-to-Head: Fernandez and Starodubtseva have never faced off before this.
A final appearance at the US Open would seem to suggest that Leylah Fernandez has a particular fondness for hardcourt surfaces but that view drastically changes when one considers what she has done at the Australian Open in her career.
Having featured five times at the season’s opening major, Fernandez has made the second round only twice and she has never progressed beyond that.
And in the two tournaments she did feature in before the start of the Australian Open this season, Fernandez won just one main draw match.
She should have it easy against the world number 100 Yulia Starodubtseva though given what has transpired for her opponent. The Ukrainian 24-year-old ended her hardcourt season in 2024 with four successive defeats and continued with the same in 2025 when she fell in her opener to Jaqueline Cristian at the Auckland Open.
Expecting Fernadez to cruise to a win here despite her problems in this competition.
Fernandez v Starodubtseva prediction: Fernandez to win in straight sets: 1/2
Daria Saville v Anna Blinkova Preview
Head-to-Head: Their only previous meeting came at the Hobart International last season and Saville had won that encounter in three sets.
Once ranked 20th in the world, Daria Saville has slid down to 112th and was forced to take a wildcard to feature in this competition.
This fall in the rankings thanks to a run of some very poor results over the past two seasons, seems to be continuing unabated too as Saville failed to qualify for the Brisbane International and then lost in the first round in Adelaide.
Making matters worse was that her loss in Brisbane came at the hands of Anastasiia Sobolieva, a player ranked 209th in the world.
Anna Blinkova will be mindful of the support Saville might get from the home crowds but she will bring with her the confidence of having made the second round at both, the Brisbane International and Adelaide International earlier this year.
She is also coming off a third round appearance at this competition last year and she could use that to her advantage, having experienced what it’s like to win matches in majors.
Saville v Blinkova prediction: Blinkova to win: 1/2
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Yue Yuan Preview
Head-to-Head: Pavlyuchenkova and Yue have never faced off before.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has had her woes with fitness and by the end of 2022, the former world number 11 had fallen to 368th in the world. The Russian has recovered rather well from that point onward and broken back into the top 30 of the WTA Rankings.
Another solid campaign here or at any of the WTA 1000s could see her come close to her personal best again.
She did not have a great start to the season with an opening round loss at Adelaide but that could be put down to the quality of her opponent, the former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova. Still there wasn’t much to choose between the two with Pavlyuchenkova only losing in the final set.
Yue Yuan had touched a career-best ranking of 36th in the world last season, and kick-started this year with successive wins at the Brisbane International to reach the third round. She stunned Marta Kostyuk in the second round but then fell to Anhelina Kalinina in the next.
Unfortunately for Yuan, she was unable to do much in Hobart as Camila Osorio routed her 6-2, 6-3 in the very first round – underlining her consistency issues which have haunted her in her career so far.
As a result there’s not much to choose between these two players but Pavlyuchenkova could hold a very slight edge.
Pavlyuchenkova v Yuan prediction: Over 20.5 games in the match: 4/6
Other Australian Open 2025 Predictions of the Day
- TBA
