The second round action at the Australian Open 2025 will see Jessica Pegula, Paula Badosa, Marta Kostyuk and Liudmilla Samsonova take to court on Wednesday, January 15. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Melbourne.
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Jessica Pegula v Elise Mertens Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been three previous meetings between these two and rather surprisingly Mertens has won them all! Two of them came in hardcourt competitions – in Dubai and Cincinnati – while Mertens also beat Pegula at the 2023 French Open.
Jessica Pegula was a beaten finalist at the Adelaide International, losing to Madison Keys there but she came back well to cruise past Maya Joint in her opener here.
In a match that barely lasted an hour, Pegula came away a 6-3, 6-0 winner as she won all but nine of the points on her serve. The American did not face a single break point while getting past her opponent’s serve on five occasions, signalling her intentions for the rest of the tournament.
Elise Mertens will be a tough opponent though given how she’s gone about her business recently.
After making it to the final of the Hobart International herself – where she was beaten by McCartney Kessler – Mertens started off slowly in her opener against Viktorija Golubic.
She lost the first set and was two match-points down in the tie-breaker that followed in the second before scripting her comeback. After clinching the tie-breaker, Mertens went on to break her opponent three times even as her own serve proved to be a bit of a problem.
Still, Mertens came through finally in two hours and 49 minutes.
Can she show a similar fighting spirit here?
Pegula v Mertens prediction: Over 19.5 games in the match: 8/11
Paula Badosa v Talia Gibson Preview
Head-to-Head: Badosa and Gibson haven’t faced off in a competitive match before this.
Paula Badosa has shown sigs of a bit of a struggle in these opening exchanges this season having lost her opener in Brisbane and then getting knocked out of the Adelaide International in the second round.
Facing the off-colour Xinyu Wang in the first round here, Badosa was an odds-on favourite to win and while that’s exactly what she did, it took her some time.
In a match lasting nearly an hour and a half, Badosa ended Wang’s run 6-3, 7-6 (5) to seal her place in the second round. And Badosa will now look to emulate her performance from the previous Australian Open where she had made the third round before bowing out to Amanda Anisimova.
Standing in her path is Aussie 20-year-old Talia Gibson who overcame the odds and the loss of the first set to down Zeynep Sonmez in three.
Gibson was 8/5 going into the encounter and down a set, and having been unable to take advantage of being a break up on two occasions, she found herself in a tie-breaker.
From that point onward, she clinched the set off her second set-point before racing off to a 4-0 lead in the third and clinching it.
Badosa v Gibson prediction: Over 18.5 games in the match: 10/11
Marta Kostyuk v Jule Niemeier Preview
Head-to-Head: This will be their first meeting.
Marta Kostyuk hasn’t gotten into her rhythm yet this year but she would be hoping her fighting win over Nao Hibino would be a trigger that ignites a run.
The world number 18 had featured in two tournaments before the start of the Australian Open and lost in the opening round at both, the Brisbane International and Adelaide International.
And despite starting out a 1/4 favourite against Hibino, it took Kostyuk a comeback-from-behind victory to seal her place in the second round here = also earning herself her first win of the season.
She now has the 91st-ranked Jule Niemeier facing her in the second round as she looks to take a step closer to the quarterfinal appearance at this tournament last year.
Niemeier was an 8/5 underdog against Maja Chwalinska but this is where the bookmakers got it completely wrong as the German romped to a 6-0, 6-1 win in an hour and 14 minutes.
We could see another fight here and a three-setter looks likely.
Kostyuk v Niemeier prediction: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Liudmilla Samsonova v Olga Danilovic Preview
Head-to-Head: Samsonova and Danilovic have never faced off before this.
Following a poor start to the season at the Brisbane International where she was ousted in her opener, Liudmilla Samsonova came back strongly to make the semifinals at the Adelaide International. Wins over Marie Bouzkova, Belinda Bencic and Emma Navarro punctuated her efforts.
And she looked to have taken that form through to the Australian Open as well, starting out with a 6-2, 6-4 rout of Kamilla Rakhimova in her opener.
Facing her in her second round will be Serbian Olga Danilovic, who did not waste too much time herself in her straight-set win over Arantxa Rus.
This followed her first round loss at Hobart to Maya Joint.
Samsonova could prove to be too good here for the 55th-ranked Danilovic with one of the sets expected to see some fight from her.
Samsonova v Danilovic prediction: Games Handicap Samsonova -3.5: 4/6
