By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday January 16, 2020
A mouthwatering clash of Grand Slam champions could occur in the third round in Melbourne, the draw has revealed.
Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve
The 2020 Australian Open Women’s Singles draw features a plethora of early-round popcorn and a few potential quarterfinals to die for. What else is new?
The draw reveal alerted fans to the rematch of Venus Williams v Coco Gauff, as well as a tasty opening-round match between Serena Williams and Anastasia Potapova in the same quarter.
The lower quarter in the top half of the draw features all that and more. Third-seeded Naomi Osaka, who will begin her title defense with Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic is in the quarter as well as Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Dayana Yastremska, Caroline Wozniacki and Wang Qiang.
See all four quarters of the draw below:
Williams and Osaka could potentially meet in the quarterfinals if the seeds hold. Osaka holds the 2-1 lifetime edge with Williams taking their last meeting last year in Canada.
Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty will face Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine, a player that defeated her in their only previous meeting. Barty’s potential quarterfinal opponent would be Petra Kvitova if the seeds hold.
Here are all the projected quarterfinals based on seeding:
Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova will open with France’s Kristina Mladenovic in another tricky quarter that features Angelique Kerber, Kiki Bertens, Marketa Vondrousova, Amanda Anisimova, Garbiñe Muguruza and Elina Svitolina.
Main draw play begins on Monday in Melbourne.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve