Johanna Konta will look to extend her 2019 Australian Open campaign but Garbine Muguruza could have other ideas going into their second round match that will be played at the Margaret Court Arena.
Watch & bet on Johanna Konta v Garbine Muguruza live with bet365 here* on Thursday, January 17. The Konta v Muguruza match will kick-start around 10 pm local time (12 noon BST).
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Konta v Muguruza Head to Head
There have been three previous meetings between Konta and Muguruza, none of which came after the 2015 US Open. While Konta leads 2-1, it’s tough to understand too much from it given the Spaniard has won two Grand Slam titles since then – a French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017.
Muguruza’s Dodgy Form
The Spaniard, who had climbed to pole position in the WTA rankings as recently as towards the end of the 2017 season, is now facing form struggles. Muguruza has fallen to number 18 in the WTA rankings and is still struggling to find a formula that might work for her.
Right from retiring in the first match she played last year in Brisbane – as the top seed – to losing in round two of the 2018 Australian Open to all the way through to the US Open and beyond, Muguruza’s struggles have been well-chronicled.
In between all of this, her only performance of note came at the French Open last year where she managed a semi-final but that aside, there were second round losses at all other Grand Slams last season. Early in the year, she had also made the final of the Qatar Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament, and won the Monterrey Open by beating Timea Babos in the final.
However, the start to her 2019 season was as poor, as she lost two of her three Hopman Cup matches, going down to Angelique Kerber and Ash Barty and only winning against Alize Cornet, while having to withdraw from the Sydney International in round two because of injury.
Her opening round win here came in straight sets against Saisai Zheng.
Can Konta Carry on from Where Murray Left?
Konta is coming off a tough, three-set win over Ajla Tomljanovic, with two of those sets going to tie-breakers. Much like Muguruza, Konta’s dip in form has been startling, with a career ranking of number four in July 2017 having fallen to 38th at the moment.
The slight good news is that her ranking had dropped to 50th before that improvement but her failure to qualify for the Sydney International earlier this year would have come as a big blow. She lost her second qualifying round match to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
With Andy Murray out and Katie Boulter losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the second round yesterday, all Brit eyes will be on Konta to see if she can push forward towards the latter rounds.
Konta v Muguruza – Who Will Win?
It will be an interesting battle between two players who have seen a dip in their fortunes in recent times. But we still back Muguruza to get through this one in three sets.
You can watch & bet on Johanna Konta v Garbine Muguruza live with bet365 here on Thursday, January 17.
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