2019 Australian Open - Day 1 Women's Match Notes and Preview

2019 Australian Open – Day 1 Women’s Match Notes and Preview

January 14, 2019

POLONA HERCOG (SLO #92) vs. [2] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #2)

Kerber leads 4-2
Kerber is 8-3 in first round action at Melbourne Park, with last loss at this stage coming in 2015…Hercog
owns a 1-20 career record vs. Top 10 opponents, with sole win coming over No.7 Bartoli at 2012 Charleston

Head to Head: ANGELIQUE KERBER leads 4-2

POLONA HERCOG 92	WTA RANKING	ANGELIQUE KERBER 2
–	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	36
20-01-1991 (27)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	18-01-1988 (30)
$2,525	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$21,660
$2,848,359	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$27,178,501
0 / 2	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 12
0 / 2	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
2-8	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	26-10
0-1 / 135-171	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	1-1 / 400-226
0-0 / 38-56	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 112-88
0-0 / 26-40	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	1-0 / 79-53
0-1 / 49-96	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	1-1 / 261-146
0-0 / 1-20	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 37-60
0-0 / 7-37	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 86-112
0-0 / 12-20	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 32-20
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

ALISON VAN UYTVANCK (BEL #52) vs. [3] CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #3)

Wozniacki leads 1-0

Wozniacki is making her 12th consecutive main draw appearance at the Australian Open, and returning
to Melbourne Park in 2019 as defending champion…Van Uytvanck is bidding to defeat a defending Grand
Slam champion for the second time in career, after ousting Muguruza at 2018 Wimbledon

ALISON VAN UYTVANCK (BEL #52) vs. [3] CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #3)

Head to Head: CAROLINE WOZNIACKI leads 1-0

2018

ROME

CLAY O R2 CAROLINE WOZNIACKI

6-1 6-4

96 mins

ALISON VAN UYTVANCK 52	WTA RANKING	CAROLINE WOZNIACKI 3
128	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	131
26-03-1994 (24)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	11-07-1990 (28)
$5,325	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$3,310
$2,111,229	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$33,495,723
0 / 2	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 30
0 / 1	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 2
0-4	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	32-10
1-2 / 68-88	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	1-1 / 574-240
0-0 / 24-28	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 148-79
1-0 / 20-32	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 89-79
1-2 / 37-51	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	1-1 / 413-163
0-0 / 1-6	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 61-67
0-0 / 2-18	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 132-106
0-0 / 3-7	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 58-28
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

[5] SLOANE STEPHENS (USA #5) vs. TAYLOR TOWNSEND (USA #93)

First career meeting

Stephens has lost her last three first round matches at Melbourne Park (2015-16, 2018), while Townsend
has yet to win a main draw match here. One of four all-country matchups in first round

[5] SLOANE STEPHENS (USA #5) vs. TAYLOR TOWNSEND (USA #93)

Head to Head: First meeting

SLOANE STEPHENS 5	WTA RANKING	TAYLOR TOWNSEND 93
80	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	–
20-03-1993 (25)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	16-04-1996 (22)
$20,345	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$5,125
$13,396,548	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$1,413,884
0 / 6	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
0 / 0	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
9-6	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	0-2
1-2 / 197-133	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 19-32
1-1 / 64-45	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 10-8
2-1 / 50-28	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	1-0 / 6-3
1-2 / 130-88	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 12-22
0-0 / 17-33	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 0-7
0-0 / 35-54	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 0-11
0-0 / 16-5	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 0-0
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

[8] PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #6) vs. MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA (SVK #51)

Kvitova leads 6-1

Kvitova’s first round exit here in 2018 was her first opening match loss at a Slam in four years – overall she
owns a 32-9 record in Grand Slam first round matches…Rybarikova owns nine career Top 10 wins, most recently against No.7 Ka.Pliskova at 2018 Birmingham

PETRA KVITOVA 6	WTA RANKING	MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA 51
1	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	–
08-03-1990 (28)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	04-10-1988 (30)
$154,580	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$6,940
$27,496,787	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$4,944,414
1 / 26	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 4
0 / 0	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 2
14-9	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	6-9
6-1 / 404-190	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 185-206
2-0 / 122-77	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 70-56
3-2 / 81-59	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 40-53
6-1 / 269-132	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 121-130
1-0 / 45-14	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 16-14
1-0 / 25-30	YTD / CAREER TOP 5 W-L (MD & Q) *	0-0 / 2-17
1-0 / 53-50	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD & Q) *	0-0 / 9-27
3-1 / 102-85	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD & Q) *	0-0 / 23-65
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

ALISON RISKE (USA #56) vs. [9] KIKI BERTENS (NED #9)

Bertens leads 2-0

Bertens is coming in hot off the heels of her semifinal finish in Sydney – marked first semifinal on Australian
soil…Riske is fresh off reaching the final in Shenzhen and is seeking her first victory over the Dutchwoman and her 70th career hardcourt victory

ALISON RISKE 56	WTA RANKING	KIKI BERTENS 9
21	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	11
03-07-1990 (28)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	10-12-1991 (27)
$81,251	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$54,977
$3,172,601	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$6,577,101
0 / 1	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 7
0 / 0	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 10
4-7	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	3-6
4-1 / 120-130	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	3-2 / 157-135
1-1 / 39-54	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	1-2 / 43-49
0-1 / 30-42	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	1-2 / 34-40
4-1 / 69-77	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	3-2 / 67-86
0-0 / 5-23	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 15-20
0-1 / 13-44	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	1-1 / 24-37
0-0 / 10-8	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 16-9
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

[Q] ANNA KALINSKAYA (RUS #146) vs. [11] ARYNA SABALENKA (BLR #11)

Series tied 1-1
Sabalenka is enjoying her third – and highest – seeding at a Slam, at No.11. By contrast, 12 months ago she sat at No.69 in the rankings…Kalinskaya has come through qualifying again in 2019 to reach the main draw – did not drop a set, defeating Lemoine, Diatchenko and Lottner

ANNA KALINSKAYA 146	WTA RANKING	ARYNA SABALENKA 11
90	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	8
02-12-1998 (20)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	05-05-1998 (20)
$3,919	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$169,605
$345,928	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$2,318,544
0 / 0	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	1 / 3
0 / 0	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
0-1	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	0-1
0-0 / 3-16	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	5-1 / 63-31
0-0 / 1-4	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	2-0 / 26-12
0-0 / 1-2	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	1-0 / 16-11
0-0 / 1-8	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	5-1 / 51-21
0-0 / 0-1	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 8-6
0-0 / 0-3	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 16-11
0-0 / 0-1	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 6-5
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

[14] JULIA GOERGES (GER #13) vs. DANIELLE COLLINS (USA #35)

First career meeting

Goerges owns a 10-1 record in first round matches at Melbourne Park, with her sole loss coming against
Ivanovic in 2009…Collins is making her Australian Open debut and enters the tournament ranked No.36, one place off career-high set on August 6, 2018 following San Jose QF run

JULIA GOERGES 13	WTA RANKING	DANIELLE COLLINS 35
9	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	169
02-11-1988 (30)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	13-12-1993 (25)
$43,910	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$13,285
$8,672,406	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$997,636
1 / 7	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
0 / 5	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
16-10	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	0-0
5-0 / 288-232	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	0-2 / 17-22
2-0 / 88-83	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 9-6
2-0 / 65-72	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	1-2 / 4-5
5-0 / 172-141	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	0-2 / 13-15
0-0 / 16-26	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 1-2
0-0 / 8-17	YTD / CAREER TOP 5 W-L (MD & Q) *	0-0 / 0-3
0-0 / 16-36	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD & Q) *	0-1 / 1-5
0-0 / 34-75	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD & Q) *	0-1 / 3-9
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

[15] ASHLEIGH BARTY (AUS #15) vs. LUKSIKA KUMKHUM (THA #67)

Series tied 1-1

Barty owns an 8-9 record in Grand Slam first round matches – last loss to a player outside the Top 50 was
against No.63 Azarenka at 2018 Tokyo…Kumkhum advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time as a qualifier here last year

ASHLEIGH BARTY 15	WTA RANKING	LUKSIKA KUMKHUM 67
5	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	16
24-04-1996 (22)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	21-07-1993 (25)
$75,570	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$4,698
$5,283,650	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$954,716
0 / 3	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
0 / 9	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 0
4-5	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	4-5
4-1 / 88-50	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 21-32
1-1 / 25-14	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 8-10
0-2 / 13-12	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 7-4
4-1 / 57-31	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 20-27
2-1 / 7-15	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 1-2
3-1 / 17-29	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 2-9
0-1 / 9-5	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 2-1
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

MARIA SAKKARI (GRE #43) vs. [22] JELENA OSTAPENKO (LAT #22)

Ostapenko leads 1-0

Ostapenko’s best finish here were back-to-back third rounds in 2017 (l.Ka.Pliskova) and 2018
(l.Kontaveit)…Sakkari is up to No.43 to start the tournament, after being ranked No.55 at this stage last season

MARIA SAKKARI 43	WTA RANKING	JELENA OSTAPENKO 22
–	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD	–
25-07-1995 (23)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)	08-06-1997 (21)
$2,100	YTD PRIZE MONEY	$13,844
$1,697,961	CAREER PRIZE MONEY	$7,548,328
0 / 0	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 2
0 / 0	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)	0 / 3
3-3	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *	4-3
0-1 / 43-54	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *	0-2 / 92-73
0-1 / 12-21	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 32-25
0-0 / 13-8	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 27-13
0-1 / 26-35	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *	0-2 / 50-51
0-0 / 2-4	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 8-11
0-0 / 6-14	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *	0-1 / 12-21
0-0 / 2-4	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *	0-0 / 8-10
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r

[30] MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS #30) vs. [Q] HARRIET DART (GBR #131)

First career meeting

Sharapova’s record in Grand Slam first round matches stands at 50-4 (.926) – among active players with
10 or more majors to their name, only S.Williams has a better winning percentage (.986)…Dart is contesting Australian Open at a career-high ranking of No.131; this time last year, she was ranked No.309; just her second-career Grand Slam main draw

MARIA SHARAPOVA 30	WTA RANKING		HARRIET DART 131
64	PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD		49
19-04-1987 (31)	DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)		28-07-1996 (22)
$13,121	YTD PRIZE MONEY		$12,705
$38,355,240	CAREER PRIZE MONEY		$264,354
0 / 36	SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)		0 / 0
0 / 3	DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)		0 / 0
54-13	AUSTRALIAN OPEN W-L (MD) *		0-0
2-1 / 598-158	YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *		1-1 / 2-7
0-0 / 162-59	YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *		1-0 / 2-1
1-1 / 74-63	YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *		0-0 / 0-1
2-1 / 358-101	YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *		1-1 / 1-4
0-0 / 97-66	YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD) *		0-0 / 0-1
0-1 / 171-100	YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD) *		0-1 / 0-2
0-0 / 54-15	YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *		0-0 / 1-0
	* Updated entering 2019 Australian Open 1r
AUSTRALIAN OPEN Tournament Performance – 2019 * Qualifying match
	*R3	W – IVANA JOROVIC (SRB #117)	1-6,6-3,6-1	120 mins
	*R2	W – SHILIN XU (CHN #217)	7-6(4),6-1	81 mins
	*R1	W – CHLOE PAQUET (FRA #224)	6-3,4-6,6-2	116 mins