4 dark horses at the Australian Open: Women

In the first two days of the Australian Open, the tournament has already seen several major upsets, with a number of seeded players crashing out in their first round matches.In that vein, here are 4 female players who may not be expected to win but could still be title challengers:

#4 Madison Keys

Rising American tennis star Madison Keys is only 20 years old, but has already beaten multiple top-10 players. At the US Open last year, she completely dominated the higher-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska, defeating her 6-3, 6-2 as she went on to lose to Serena Williams.

She’d also tested Radwanska at Wimbledon that same year, with the Polish ace taken to a tiebreak and then proceeding to drop a set before her eventual win.

Keys managed to finish in the semi-finals of the Australian Open last year at only 19 years old, beating 4th- ranked Petra Kvitova in straight sets and taking apart an attack from Venus Williams.

At the semi-finals, she even managed to take Serena Williams to a first-set tiebreak before going down to the World No. 1, who was the eventual champion of the tournament.

Today, Keys dismantled her Kazakh opponent Zarina Diyas. After winning a first-set tiebreak, the American came back with full force to breadstick her opponent in the opponent, eventually taking a forceful 7-6, 6-1 victory.

#3 Johanna Konta

Britain’s top-ranked tennis player, Konta ousted former World No. 1 Venus Williams, who returned to the top 10 rankings at the end of last year, in the pair’s first round match at the Australian Open.

24-year-old Konta, who was born in Sydney, has represented the United Kingdom since she turned pro. She did not have the best start to 2016, having suffered back-to-back losses at the Round of 32 in both tournaments she has played so far, in Shenzhen and Hobart.

At her most recent slam prior to the Australian Open, Konta, although she did not progress beyond the Round of 16, tested the mettle of two of her top-10 opponents – World No. 9 Garbine Muguruza and 4th-ranked Petra Kvitova, with the Spaniard taken to a tiebreak and dropping a set, and Kvitova also taken to three sets on the way to victory.

Having beaten a top 10, former No. 1 who recently showed a return to form will bode well for the Briton, who could carry that momentum on to her next match.

#2 Belinda Bencic

The newest Swiss Miss on the block, Belinda Bencic has long been touted as the Next Big Thing. She’s also coached by Melanie Molitor, who is the mother and sometime-coach of the original Swiss Miss – prodigy and tennis great Martina Hingis.

The 18-year-old has had a relatively strong start to the year, losing to qualifier Samantha Crawford of the USA in closely fought sets.

Following this, she was on track for a finals finish at the Apia International in Sydney – and led her German opponent, qualifier Monica Puig, 6-0 before retiring with injury.

Up against 88th-ranked Alison Riske, 12th seed Bencic did not break a sweat – instead breaking her opponent’s serve en route to a straightforward 6-4, 6-3 victory. Breaking and then successfully capitalising in the second set as well, the Swiss looked the consummate professional and with her clean game looks to be a force to contend with in the Open.

#1 Victoria Azarenka

She may be a former World No. 1, but most would not regard Azarenka as a title frontrunner at this year’s Grand Slam despite her having won the title twice before.

At her first-round Australian Open match against Alison Van Uytvanck, Azarenka thoroughly dominated – and decimated her Belgian opponent, whom she double-bageled. Azarenka has had a series of good results last year as well.

Although the Belarusian did not win any titles in 2015, she has seriously taxed all of her higher-ranked opponents, each of whom has dropped a set in their matches against her.

Most importantly, Azarenka has stretched World No. 1, reigning champion and title frontrunner Serena Williams on three different occasions, with the powerful American dropping a set on each occasion.

After her double bagel of the 41st- ranked van Uytvanck, the 16th ranked player should have no trouble working on the back of that momentum to win her next few matches and go back to her Slam-winning ways.