A season opener, the Auckland Open is instrumental in setting the pace for the first Grand Slam of the year and will begin on January 6 at the ASB Tennis Centre with Serena Williams leading the action.
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In its 35th edition, the top seed at the tournament will be the ‘Female Athlete of the Decade’: Serena Williams. The former world no.1 will lead the field at the beginning of the new season as she will hope to start off the year with a strong performance.
At the Australian Open, Williams will once again have the chance to win her 24th Grand Slam and equal Margaret Courts record. Although she has lost the past four Grand Slam finals, it is a feat in itself to reach the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open. At Melbourne Park last year, Williams reached the semi-finals losing to Karolina Pliskova.
Having played 34 matches on tour last year, Williams has a win-loss record of 19-4 on hard-courts. Further, the tournament will be good practice for the former world no.1 as the surface at Auckland and at Melbourne Park are made of Plexicusion.
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Running parallel to Brisbane International, the tournament will also host Croatian Petra Martic and teenager Amanda Anisimova currently ranked at world no.24.
The defending champion and two-time winner at the Auckland Open is fourth-seed Julia Goerges. Goerges first lifted the title in 2018 when she defeated Caroline Wozniacki who was a 2015 finalist and is seeded fifth in the tournament.
Goerges was also a finalist in 2016 where she lost to Sloane Stephens. Her impressive record at Auckland alone places Goerges at the forefront of the action.
Former finalist Wozniacki will start her season at Auckland and fans will be thrilled to witness her last tour before she retires. Wozniacki is an Australian Open champion, winning her only Grand Slam in 2018 and has announced her retirement after the Australian Open this year.
Last year, although Wozniacki couldn’t make it past the round of 16 in New Zealand, her performance at the start of the season has always been memorable.
For the first time, Williams and Wozniacki will team up in a historic doubles pairing at Auckland. The duo have undoubtedly been some of the greatest tennis players and have been close friends for some time.
Reigning US Open champion Bianca Andreescu was forced to pull out of the tournament due to a knee injury. In 2018, Auckland was one of the milestones of Andreescu’s year as she reached her only finals there. Andreescu is still scheduled to participate at the Australian Open and hopefully recovers by the time.
Monica Puig was also forced to full out of the Auckland Open and the Australian Open on undergoing an elbow surgery.
Former Wimbledon finalist, Eugenie Bouchard, Paige Hourigan and Valentina Ivanov have been given wild card entries into the main draw and will join Rebecca Peterson, Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Garcia who are the remaining seeds in the tournament.
Catch the action beginning on January 6 at the ASB Tennis Centre in New Zealand.
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