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With Serena Williams not returning to defend her Australian Open title in 2018, the door is open for a fresh face to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. Here’s just a few of the contenders:

Simona Halep

There’s no denying it: Simona Halep is getting closer to that elusive first Grand Slam title. The 26-year-old looked set to break through after leading Jelena Ostapenko by a set and 3-0 in the final at Roland Garros last year, only for the Latvian to steal her thunder in scintillating fashion. The inconvenient truth, however, is that Halep’s last win at Melbourne Park came in the fourth round in 2015; since reaching her second Australian Open quarterfinal three years ago, she has suffered back-to-back first-round exits. But she returns as the top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, confidence boosted by a solid start to the season in Shenzhen.


Caroline Wozniacki

It’s a close-run thing between Halep and Caroline Wozniacki for the unwanted title of best player yet to lift a Grand Slam title. But the 27-year-old Dane raised the bar for the biggest title of her career in October by winning the WTA Finals where, as the No.6 seed, she posted wins over Halep, Elina Svitolina, and Karolina Pliskova before beating Venus Williams for the first time in the final. Melbourne hasn’t been her most successful major – the 2011 semifinalist has only been as far as the quarters once since then – but with a top-three seeding on the back of her 2017 renaissance, few players will relish seeing Caro across the net.


Venus Williams

A solid run at the Sydney International could see Venus Williams become the sole active player on the WTA Tour to feature in 1,000 matches, an impressive achievement for the 37-year-old in the context of her ongoing battle with Sjogren’s syndrome. And yet that only tells half the story of the American’s late-career resurgence. Last year’s beaten finalist ended 2017 as the most consistent player at the majors, appearing in a second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon and reaching the fourth round or better at all four tournaments, as well as the final of the WTA Finals. A decade on from her seventh major win at Wimbledon, is this the time for Venus to rise once more?


Garbine Muguruza
Halted by cramps in her first-round match at the Brisbane International, Garbine Muguruza accepted a wildcard to join a stellar field in Sydney to get her Australian Open preparations back on track. The 24-year-old posted her best result at Melbourne Park a year ago, falling to CoCo Vandeveghe in the quarterfinals, before claiming her second Grand Slam title with a ruthless display against Venus Williams at Wimbledon and following up with a surge to the top of the WTA rankings off the back of her second title of the season in Cincinnati.


Elina Svitolina
Stepping out of the shadows reserved for dark horses into the glare endured by title contenders, Elina Svitolina’s potential goes far beyond her two Grand Slam quarter-final appearances. Rising as high as No.3 in the world last year, the Ukrainian claimed a tour-best five WTA titles in 2017 and finished the season with her fifth match win over a reigning world No.1 by beating Simona Halep at the WTA Finals. Serving like a dream this week in Brisbane, the 23-year-old will take some beating should she land in a favourable section of the draw.



Maria Sharapova
Has it really been a decade since Maria Sharapova won the Australian Open? Returning to Melbourne Park for the first time since 2016, the 30-year-old will be one player with added reason to be relieved by Serena Williams’ absence – her last two runs in Melbourne were halted by the 23-time Grand Slam champion, in the 2015 final and the quarters in 2016. Sharapova stuttered on her return in the second half of the 2017 season, but a show-stopping first-round victory over Halep at the US Open and a title win in Tianjin were the first signs that the 2008 champion is rediscovering her top form.


Johanna Konta
At the time of writing, Sydney-born Briton Konta was playing the waiting game with a hip injury that forced her to retire from the quarterfinals in Brisbane, hoping it was simply a muscle strain. It’s a worrying development for a player who has reached the last eight or better in the past two seasons at Melbourne Park, surging to the semis in 2016 before falling in the quarters last year. Should she return fighting fit, Konta will be a force to be reckoned with, having reached the second Grand Slam semi-final of her career at Wimbledon and claimed the biggest title of her career in Miami in 2017. We will have a better idea of her prospects once she launches her Sydney title defence.


Karolina Pliskova
This time last year, the tennis world awaited Karolina Pliskova’s all-but-certain run to the sharp end of the Australian Open following a meteoric surge in 2016 that culminated with her US Open final appearance, backed up by victory in Brisbane. But in sport, there’s no such thing as a sure thing, and the Czech was bounced out of the tournament in the quarterfinals by Mirjana Lucic Baroni – a great story for sport, a tough loss for the 24-year-old. But while it wasn’t a year dripping with glory as expected, two Grand Slam quarter-finals and a Roland-Garros semi is a solid return on the season. Can she extend the run to seven matches this time out?