Britain’s Johanna Konta saw the odds on her making a title run in Melbourne this season, drift after the announcement of the draw for the Australian Open. Konta opens against World Number 92 Madison Brengle and while there is a vast gap between the two players in the World Rankings, Brengle has won three of the four previous battles that she and Konta have had on the court. Konta did win the most recent clash though in 2016.
But that is the tip of the iceberg only for Jo Konta’s Australian Open challenge because she has received a really tough draw. As early as the fourth round she could run head first into Karolina Pliskova, one of the tournament favourites and if she were to get through that then it would set up a clash against another tournament favourite, World Number One Simona Halep in the quarter finals.
So there’s no easy path to success at the Australian Open 2018 for Konta.
Subsequently, she had drifted out to 25/1 at Paddy Power* (Betting Odds taken from January 12th, 2018 at 2.08 am) on Friday morning, the action in the main draw starting on Monday, January 15th. Konta does have a good track record in Melbourne recently though as she has been to the quarter finals and the semi finals in her last two appearances at the Australian Open. She is going to have her work cut out for her in this one though.
Heather Watson is the only other Brit in the main Women’s draw although Naomi Broady is battling through the qualifying to try and get there. Watson gets to take on Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in her first round match, her opponent 24th places higher than Watson is in the World Rankings. Over on the men’s side, Kyle Edmund is the only Briton in the draw and he meets up with 11th seed Kevin Anderson in the first round.
Women’s Australian Open 2018 Odds*
Simona Halep 8/1, Elina Svitolina 9/1, Karolina Pliskova 8/1, Caroline Wozniacki 9/1, Angelique Kerber 10/1, Garbine Muguruza 11/1, Maria Sharapova 12/1, Madison Keys 14/1, Petra Kvitova 20/1, Coco Vandeweghe 22/1, Julia Goerges 22/1, Johanna Konta 25/1, Venus Williams 25/1 * (Betting Odds taken from January 12th, 2018 at 2.08 am)
