20th seed Ana Ivanovic will have a big opportunity to pick up her first win of the year as she faces Aussie wildcard Tammi Patterson in the first round of the Australian Open. Let's take a look to what we can expect from this encounter.
Ivanovic's start of the year
After two weeks of competition, Ana is still looking for her first win of the year. She entered the International tournament of Auckland as the second seed but did not go deep in the contest, losing to giant-killer Naomi Broady in the first round. She was expected to wrap up the match in straight sets but her opponent came up playing the best tennis of her life and the Serbian could not find any answers. Because of her early loss at the ASB Classic, Ivanovic accepted a main draw wildcard for the tournament of Sydney in order to play a few more matches before the first major of the year. Unfortunately, the draw was not kind to Ana as she fell to Karolina Pliskova in the first round. Again, even if she told the media that she felt better, she could not put up a fight, winning only six games. It looks like it could not be worse for the Serbian; she is coming to Melbourne without any win under her belt but she will not have to defend points since she lost to Lucie Hradecka in the first round last year.
Patterson's start of the year
Tammi Patterson is a 26-year-old player from Australia. She played her first ITF match in 2005, her first WTA match in 2011 and has a career-high in singles of 289.
She undertook her 2016 season at Brisbane where she was given a wildcard for the qualifications. Her first opponent was doubles specialist Elena Vesnina and the least we can say is that she did not stay long on the court, winning only four games. She then received a main draw wildcard for the tournament of Sydney and came up against eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening round. That was by no means better since she bowed to her opponent 6-2, 6-0. Just like Ivanovic, she will enter the first Grand Slam of the year winless.
Expectations and prediction of the match
They are both looking for their first win of the year but it is logical to think that the Serbian will get past her first round opponent. She is the more experienced player and she is used to playing on big courts. Her only disadvantage will be that she does not know her opponent and on the professional circuit, it is well known that it is never easy to play someone you've never played in the past. However, as a seed, Ivanovic should not get any trouble to adapt to the game of Patterson who will have to play the tennis of her life if she wants to score an upset.
Prediction: Ivanovic def. Patterson in straight sets.
