Australian Open 2019 Preview – January 23rd, 2019 at 1:00 am
Serena Williams passed the biggest challenge of her Australian Open 2019 quest in the fourth round as she took out world number one Simona Halep. She can’t let her intensity drop after that epic duel though, as she faces another tough contender in Pliskova.
Serena Williams v Karolina Pliskova odds*
Serena Williams 1/3
Karolina Pliskova 12/5
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 21st, 2019 at 5:31 pm)
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It’s hard to deny that Serena Williams is the one to beat at the Australian Open 2019. After easily cruising through the first three rounds, the inevitable showdown against Simona Halep was lined up for the fourth round. Williams absolutely tore Halep apart in the first set, Williams getting the opener 6-1. But then she had to withstand some pressure as the Romanian came back at her hard.
Halep got the second and there was little give and take between the two of them in the deciding set. It all boiled down to Williams just stepping it up at the end to land the 6-4 win in the decider. What that showed there is little concern about the stamina of Williams in the tournament. She still had plenty of running and power hitting against her younger opponent. Next up for her is Pliskova who has looked impressive.
We earmarked the threat of Pliskova ahead of the tournament and she has been playing really well. She had a couple of stumbles into second and third rounds in dropping sets but on each occasion, she came back strongly. She really put it all together in the fourth round as she faced up against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in a tough challenge. But Pliskova powered her way to a straight-sets victory, dropping just four sets.
Head to head
Williams and Pliskova have met three times before and it is Williams who is 2-1 up. Their most recent meeting was at last year’s US Open with Williams getting a straight-sets victory in the quarterfinals. Pliskova’s win over Williams happened at the 2016 US Open in straight sets after their initial meeting in Stanford way back in 2014.
Prediction
Pliskova is going to need her to serve going well again in order to take on Williams. When they met last year at the US Open, Pliskova was already looking out of form after a long season when she wasn’t at her best. She can contend here and while ultimately we have seen enough from Williams to back her for the win, we will do so with a 2-1 set victory for 11/4 as Pliskova will get at her* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 21st, 2019 at 5:31 pm)
