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All eyes will be on Melbourne Park from January 17, as the Australian Open kicks off the 2022 Grand Slam season. Fans will follow the tournament with excitement for the next couple of weeks before the winner is crowned and the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup is lofted up in the air.
The women's singles event at the 110th edition of the tournament will miss two of the biggest names in the history of women's tennis. Serena Williams and Venus Williams will both not be competing at this year's event. Also missing are current World No. 4 Karolina Pliskova and former World No. 4 Bianca Andreescu.
However, that does not make the field any less exciting as newer phenoms have risen to replace the aging. 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu will be making her first appearance at the Australian Open. World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty will look to win her first Grand Slam in front of her home crowd, while defending champion Naomi Osaka is also back with a bang after her break.
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Old warhorses Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova are raring to show the world that their time is not over yet as well. But these are the names everyone is familiar with as they have already made a name for themselves in the tennis world with an outstanding exploit or two.
What about the ones who have flown under the radar? Without further ado, here are three players who could be considered dark horses for the women's singles title at the 2022 Australian Open:
#3 Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff burst onto the scene in 2019 when she defeated former World No. 1 Venus Williams in her Wimbledon debut at the age of just 15. In the three years since then, Gauff has gone from strength to strength and is currently ranked a career-high World No. 17.
2021 saw the American rise 26 places from World No. 48, reaching the quarterfinals or better at seven different tournaments. Her best result came at the Emilia-Romagna Open, where she defeated Wang Qiang in the final to win the WTA 250 event.
At the 2021 Australian Open, the 17-year-old did not go as far as she would have expected and lost to Elina Svitolina in the second round. Gauff made it into the semifinals at the Adelaide International and the quarterfinals at the Canadian Open, both played on hardcourt.
In 2022, she put up a spirited fight against Ashleigh Barty at the Adelaide International 1 before losing in three sets. In the most recent Adelaide International 2, she has made it through to the quarterfinals, marking an excellent start to the season.
Gauff will also have a far easier draw at the Australian Open this year compared to the last, owing to her No. 18 seeding. Her chances of making a deep run are much better as a result, and Gauff has a good chance of pulling off an upset or two at the tournament.
#2 Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari is slowly establishing herself as one of the more consistent WTA players. She has improved her ranking year after year, and finally broke into the top-10 for the first time ever in 2021.
2021 saw Sakkari climb 16 places to finish the year as the World No. 6, reaching the semifinals or better in eight different tournaments. The Greek reached the last four at Roland Garros, the US Open and the WTA Finals. She punched well above her weight and beat higher seeds in all three events.
At the 2021 Australian Open, the 26-year-old suffered a shock defeat against Kristina Mladenovic in the very first round. She will look to do much better this time around and live up to her billing as the fifth seed.
Seven of the eight tournaments where Sakkari reached the semifinals in 2021 were played on hardcourts, and it is the surface she is best suited for. However, the 26-year-old's biggest struggle currently is making the final push, as she did not win a single title last year despite multiple last-four appearances.
If she can manage to take that last step, the Greek could spring quite a few surprises at Melbourne Park.
#1 Aryna Sabalenka
Despite being the World No. 2, Aryna Sabalenka often goes unnoticed by casual tennis fans owing to her lack of success in Grand Slams. As a result, Sabalenka is more of a dark horse for the 2022 Australian Open than an outright favorite.
In 2021, the Belarusian reached at least the quarterfinals in 10 different tournaments and climbed eight places from where she began the year. Sabalenka reached the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the US Open, and won two WTA titles to cap off a dominant season.
At the Australian Open last year, she progressed to the fourth round before falling to former World No. 1 Serena Williams. The 23-year-old will be looking to make a similar run in 2022 at the very least, and will rightfully hope to go much farther.
However, Sabalenka has not gotten off to the greatest start in 2022. She lost her opening matches at the Adelaide International 1 and 2. Sabalenka served 39 double faults across the two matches, leading many to question whether she is in the right mental space.
With five days left for the Australian Open to begin and no matches to focus on, Sabalenka has the luxury of taking some time off and working on her game. Once she gets her serving problem sorted, the World No. 2 should be more than equipped to deal with anything her opponents throw at her.
