Australian Open preview and odds: Anett Kontaveit vs Garbine Muguruza

Published on: 18/01/2016

Australian Open preview and odds: Anett Kontaveit vs Garbine Muguruza

January 19 2016 11:00am - Rod Laver Arena

Australian Open - Round 1

In 2015, Garbine Muguruza established herself as one of the top names in women`s tennis and will begin her 2016 Grand Slam quest against 20-year-old Estonian Anett Kontaveit.

Kontaveit looking to build on US Open performance

Anett Kontaveit will kick off her first ever appearance at the Australian open by facing the third-ranked player in the world on Tuesday.

The Estonian has played in two previous Grand Slam events, having debuted at Wimbledon last year before reaching the fourth round of the US Open where she lost to Venus Williams. As a result of her efforts, she was catapulted into the top 100 and is now ranked at 85 in the world. In June, the 20-year-old also bagged her 10th ITF title with victory in Eastbourne.

Fourth Melbourne outing for Muguruza

It seems inevitable that Garbine Muguruza will win Grand Slam titles in her career. At just 22-years of age, the Spanish player has already featured at 12 Grand Slam events, and last summer she reached her first ever final where she was beaten by World No.1 Serena Williams on the Wimbledon grass.

In the last 12 months, Muguruza has risen from 24th to third in the rankings and will now have to deal with the huge weight of expectation that has been thrust onto her young shoulders.

She has been in steady form since her Wimbledon heroics, although she was disappointingly dumped out of the US Open in the second round by Britains Johanna Konta.

Betting odds and tips

Muguruza pulled out of Brisbane with badly blistered feet and could be slightly rusty going into this game. However, she should breeze through this first round match.

Back Muguruza -7 at 6/4 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 18/01/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (18/01/2016 15:10:58) but are subject to change.