Third seeded defending champion Caroline Wozniacki will face former winner Maria Sharapova in round three of the 2019 Australian Open.
Watch & bet on Caroline Wozniacki v Maria Sharapova live with bet365 here* on Friday, January 18. The Wozniacki v Sharapova match timings will be announced soon.
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Defending Champion Rolls on
The 2018 Australian Open is yet to be tested in this competition. In her opening round, she was a straight-set winner over Alison van Uytvanck before Wozniacki overcame Swedish player Johanna Larsson 6-1, 6-3 to move into the third round of the competition.
The Dane needed just 66 minutes to go past Larsson on Wednesday and in doing so, she has now won nine matches in a row in Melbourne.
Wozniacki, who had earlier announced she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, did not have a great start to her season earlier when she lost at the Auckland Open to qualifiers Bianca Andreescu in straight sets. However, those two opening round wins at this Australian Open will put her in the right kind of frame for this crucial encounter.
Chance for Sharapova to Respond
It’s a well-known fact that Wozniacki and Sharapova don’t share the best of relationships on the circuit, with the Dane having criticised her opponent for getting a number of wild-cards during her early post-ban days.
However, that hasn’t deterred the Russian from soldiering on since her comeback with results that haven’t been at their best but still having done enough to be ranked 30th in the world at the moment. Another good couple of tournaments and she could well be in the reckoning for a top-15 in the WTA Rankings given she doesn’t have a lot of points to defend.
Sharapova breezed through her opening round match against Harriet Dart, without dropping a single game and serving a warning to those who had probably written her off. In her second round match against Rebecca Peterson she was equally clinical in disposing off her opponent, winning 6-2, 6-1 to make it to round three.
Wozniacki v Sharapova – Head to Head
The Sharapova-Wozniacki rivalry has been a keenly-fought one with Sharapova having won six of their 10 matches. However, in Grand Slam tennis, Wozniacki has a 2-0 lead over her Russian opponent, with those two wins coming at the US Open. This will be the first time they will feature against each other at the Australian Open.
Wozniacki v Sharapova – Who Will Win?
The five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova might not be a bookmakers’ favourite going into this encounter but we think she could prove to be a huge obstacle in Wozniacki’s path. Expecting this to be a tough three-setter that goes the distance but we think Woznkiacki might edge it in the final set.
You can watch & bet on Wozniacki v Sharapova live with bet365 here on Friday, January 18.
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