Naomi Osaka of Japan, seeded fourth for this tournament, will face the world number 68, Magda Linette, of Poland in the first round of the 2019 Australian Open.
Watch & bet on Naomi Osaka v Magda Linette live in the Australian Open with bet365 here* on Tuesday, January 15. The Osaka v Linette match timing will be announced soon.
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Naomi Osaka – Rising Star or One-Off Champion?
Naomi Osaka became a household name overnight when she won the US Open, but, having achieved such a victory at an early age, the pressure will now be on the 21-year old to prove that was not a fluke.
Certainly she has shown flashes of immaturity, most recently at this year’s Brisbane International where she lost to Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in the semi-finals, and then apologised to her coach and supporters afterwards for her attitude, which she described as “the worst”.
She has said that she does not like the limelight but, like it or not, she will get plenty in Australia. It remains to be seen how she copes with it.
Who is Magda Linette?
Linette is a right-handed 26-year old from Poland, who turned pro nearly ten years ago, who is comfortable on all surfaces.
She has never won a senior WTA event, her best showing coming in 2015 when she was beaten by Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer in the final of the Japan’s Women’s Open. However, she does have one title on the WTA 125K tour to her name as well as 10 ITF crowns from her earlier tennis career.
In terms of the Australian Open, her best showing came last year when she reached the third round before losing to Denisa Allertová of the Czech Republic.
Naomi Osaka v Magda Linette – Who will Win?
The pair have met once before, in the last eight of the Citi Open last August, when the Pole won the final 13 points of the match to pull off a surprise victory 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, the best result she achieved in 2018 in terms of beating a higher ranked player.
A month later it was Osaka’s turn to record a shock victory when she won the US Open, although her victory over Serena Williams was overshadowed by the American’s row with the umpire and subsequent antics.
Despite this, Osaka will start as heavy favourite to win this match, with the incentive of a possible re-match with Williams in the Quarter Finals provided that both players progress that far. Linette has a poor record of beating players ranked in the top ten, and this is unlikely to change this time round.
You can watch & bet on Naomi Osaka v Magda Linette live in the Australian Open with bet365 here on Tuesday, January 15.
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