Within a blink of an eye, January has passed with the winner of the first Major of 2019 already being decided. We have a new multiple-time Grand Slam winner, the first-ever Asian world number one and the future of women’s tennis looks bright.
Player of the Month: Naomi Osaka
Of course, when you have a Grand Slam in the month, the winner of the Major ought to be the player of the month, right? And #NaomiOsaka definitely deserves the credentials of grabbing this award. The Japanese started the year with a solid run into the semifinals of the Brisbane International, sealing confident wins over Destanee Aiava and Anastasija Sevastova in the process.
Receiving a favourable draw at the Australian Open, Osaka steered past the early rounds before navigating her way against Hsieh Su-wei and Sevastova, against the former whom she had to recover from a 5-7, 0-3 deficit against. She had to defeat top-10 players Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova to reach the final, where she overcame a mid-match hiccup to oust Petra Kvitova in an all-or-nothing match.
Honourable Mention: Petra Kvitova (Sydney title, Australian Open final), Karolina Pliskova (Brisbane title, Australian Open semifinal)
Team of the Month (Doubles): Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai
#SamanthaStosur and #ZhangShuai have had quite an incredible, yet an unbelievable, story. It was Stosur who persuaded Zhang not to retire from professional tennis back in 2015, and the Chinese went on to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open a couple of months later. Now, they teamed up together and earned their first big result as a team in Melbourne, lifting the trophy.
It was a huge breakthrough for Stosur, who is known for her inability to handle the nerves and pressure from the home crowd, while this is Zhang’s first-ever Major title. As a result, they are currently the top-ranked team on the Porsche Race to Shenzhen leaderboard.
Honourable Mention: Babos/Mladenovic (Australian Open final), Strycova/Vondrousova (Australian Open semifinal)
Breakthrough of the Month: Danielle Collins
We have another new Major semifinalist as #DanielleCollins stunned the tennis world with her groundbreaking performances in Melbourne. As an underdog in the first round, she retrieved from an improbable position to claim the win against 14th seed Julia Goerges before shocking world number two Angelique Kerber with the loss of just two games in the process.
Her run continued when she came from a set down to defeat fellow unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, reaching her first Major semifinal despite not even winning a match at the Grand Slams throughout her entire career. Although she fell to Petra Kvitova in straight sets, it was still an excellent run for the American.
Honourable Mention: Bianca Andreescu (Auckland final from qualifying)
Biggest Disappointment of the Month: Daria Kasatkina
#DariaKasatkina was tipped to create some damage in Australia after her stunning end to 2018 which saw her crack the top-10 for the first time in her career. The Russian started the new season in the worst possible way, falling to the 289th-ranked Kimberly Birrell in the opening round of the Brisbane International.
Kasatkina failed to find her form and her mind completely wandered off elsewhere as she fell to straight-sets defeats against Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Timea Bacsinszky in the first round of the Apia International Sydney and the Australian Open respectively. As a result, she fell out of the top-10 and looked way out of form despite the off-season hard work she put in.
Honourable Mention: Caroline Wozniacki
Best Performance in a match: Collins d. Kerber
Danielle Collins was absolutely firing in that Australian Open fourth-round match as her ruthless aggression did not leave any lifeline for the world number two and defending semifinalist Angelique Kerber, who was tipped to lift the trophy once more. Furthermore, the German did not even play that badly but the American was just firing on all cylinders that particular day.
Honourable Mention: Pliskova d. Muguruza (Australian Open), Halep d. V.Williams (Australian Open), Anisimova d. Sabalenka (Australian Open)
Best Match of the Month: Osaka vs Kvitova
What a match it was. The Australian Open final between Naomi Osaka and #PetraKvitova was full of high-quality tennis, and they helped put up an excellent representation of women’s tennis as they battled for over two hours to determine the champion, a match which was even longer than the men’s final.
Both Osaka and Kvitova are hard-hitting players and the tennis they displayed was high-class, showing that the quality of women’s tennis is at its pinnacle right now. Osaka looked set for the win after leading by a set and a break, but there were more plot twists in store as Kvitova battled back to save three championship points for a deciding set. Osaka incredibly rebounded from the disappointment to triumph, highlighting her matured mindset as well.
Honourable Mention: Barty vs Bertens (Sydney), Halep vs S.Williams (Australian Open), Muguruza vs Konta (Australian Open), Sharapova vs Wozniacki (Australian Open)
Biggest Upset of the Month: Birrell d. Kasatkina
It was just the first day of the new season, and we have not even entered the new year as the Brisbane International kicked off play a day earlier. Kimberly Birrell, a wildcard recipient into the main draw, was facing world number 10 Daria Kasatkina in the biggest match of her career at that point in time. The Russian was the overwhelming favourite and received a favourable draw to mount a deep run, but was stunned by the unheralded Australian in three sets despite owning a commanding 5-3 lead in the decider.
Honourable Mention: Anisimova d. Sabalenka (Australian Open)
Best Comeback of the Month: Pliskova d. Serena
Many people thought #SerenaWilliams would roll over #KarolinaPliskova in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, but the Czech was determined to serve up the huge upset when she led by a set and a break before the 23-time Major champion came roaring back to take a decisive 5-1 lead in the final set.
Williams owned four match points and on her first opportunity, she sent in an ace but was called a foot fault — before rolling her ankle after her second serve. Six consecutive games came and went, but all went in the favour of Pliskova as the American looked like a shadow of her previous self during the final games. However, all credits belong to Pliskova as not many would have the privilege to say that they defied a 1-5 deficit against Serena Williams in a final set.
Honourable Mention: Osaka d. Hsieh (Australian Open)
Comments