The second round action on the Australian Open 2025 women’s draw kick-starts on Wednesday, January 15 as Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva and Clara Tauson take to court. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Melbourne.
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Aryna Sabalenka v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro Preview
Head-to-Head: Sabalenka and Bouzas Maneiro have never faced off before this.
Defending champion, world number one and tournament favourite Aryna Sabalenka will be up against the 54th-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in this second round encounter.
And unless Sabalenka messes up big time, there’s no reason to believe she won’t go into the match in full control.
The Belarusian has already bagged one title this year, clinching the Brisbane International after dropping just one set in the entire competition. And she comes into this second round match with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sloane Stephens in her opener here.
On the other hand, Bouzas Maneiro featured in the United Cup and ended 1-1 on it before Maria Carle Lourdes ended her brief stay at the Hobart International the following week.
In her opener here, Bouzas Maneiro was an 11/10 underdog against Britain’s Sonary Kartal but once she had run through the first set with three breaks of serves, there was no looking back for her. Kartal put up some token resistance in the second set only to fall away in the tie-breaker that followed.
Sabalenka v Bouzas Maneiro prediction: Over 15.5 games in the match: 5/11
Mirra Andreeva v Moyuka Uchijima Preview
Head-to-Head: Andreeva and Uchijima have never faced off in a competitive match before this.
Mirra Andreeva continues to go from strength to strength and while she isn’t among the top favourites to win the title this time, the Russian has an outside chance of doing that.
Ranked at her career-best of 15th in the world, Andreeva dispatched Marie Bouzkova in the first round, winning 6-3, 6-3. Bouzkova can turn out to be a dangerous opponent on her day but having never made it past the second round in this competition before, her dangers lay elsewhere.
Where Andreeva might need to improve as she goes deeper into the competition is with her serves – she was broken thrice in the match.
Not that we think Moyuka Uchijima has too much of a chance here, despite her shock win over Magda Linette in the opener.
Uchijima had entered the tournament on the back of successive losses in Brisbane and Adelaide and while it can be argued that Linette herself isn’t in too much of form, it was a match the Polish player should have won.
Instead, Uchijima registered her first victory of the season – and in the Australian Open ever – in a hard-fought three-setter that went 10-8 in the final set tie-breaker.
Andreeva v Uchijima prediction: Over 16.5 games in the match: 4/6
Clara Tauson v Tatjana Maria Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been two previous meetings between these two and both Tauson and Maria have won one apiece. Maria clinched her victory on the hardcourts of Warsaw while Tauson was a straight-set winner at the 2024 French Open.
It’s safe to say that Clara Tauson is in the form of her life. Sure she had won a couple of WTA titles way back in 2021 but to grab a tournament win in Auckland to kick-start the season and to then overcome the 3/4 favourite Linda Noskova in the first round here from being a set down is quite some going for the Danish player.
Tauson should have won it in straight sets in fact, having taken a 5-3 lead in the first set. She was then broken twice in a row to lose the set and lesser players would have probably wilted away.
Not Tauson, who won the next two to ease her way to the second round.
And she now takes on Tatjana Maria who won her first main draw match since September last year when she had made the final of the Guadalajara Open.
A defeat in the opening qualifier at Adelaide meant that Maria hadn’t won a match at the highest level in nearly four months and was a 17/10 underdog against Bernarda Pera.
Maria, who has once made the Wimbledon semifinal too, came through those odds though, winning in straight sets in a dazzling display of tennis. Can she make it two in two?
Tauson v Maria prediction: Tauson to win in straight sets: 4/6
Magdalena Frech v Anna Blinkova Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been five previous WTA and ITF level meetings between these two players and Blinkova leads 4-1. At the highest level they had met in Dubai in 2020 and Blinkova had won that contest too.
This will be Magdalena Frech’s chance to avenge all those losses she suffered at the hands of Anna Blinkova in the past. The last time they had met was in 2022 when Frech was still struggling with her ranking, having ended that season outside the top 100.
This is a different Frech who might have lost both her season-openers at Brisbane and Adelaide but the world number 26 put it past Polina Kudermetova in the opener here.
Polina had earlier made the final of the Brisbane International in what was a surprise run which meant that Frech started a 11/10 underdog there. And yet she came through 6-4, 6-4.
While Blinkova has made a better start to the season with first round wins at all three tournaments she has participated in including this one, she has had her struggles.
Like against Daria Saville in this competition, Blinkova was forced to come back from being a set down to clinch her win.
We think this would be a great chance for Frech to eke out a rare win over Blinkova here but a third set is likely.
Frech v Blinkova prediction: Frech to win: 8/11
