The 2018 Women’s Australian Open reaches its apex with a final that features world No. 1 Simona Halep and world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki in a matchup that takes place on Saturday and is too close to call.
Both women are playing in their first ever Australian Open final, both are playing in their third ever Grand Slam final and they both have never won a Grand Slam title.
The loser of this match will move to become the best contemporary tennis player to never win a Grand Slam final, while the winner will own the right to be called the No. 1 player in the world.
Halep, from Romania, is currently looking for her first Grand Slam title after failing to win the French Open last year where she lost to Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the final.
Wozniacki, from Denmark, lost to Serena Williams in her most recent Grand Slam final at the 2014 U.S Open.
Wozniacki, a former world No. 1, leads the head-to-head record 4-2 and is unbeaten in the last three matches between the pair.
However, Halep has won the last two times that these players have met in hard court (the Australian Open’s surface). Wozniacki has won once on this surface, but that was way back in 2012.
These players have a very similar style and are evenly matched as they are both counter-punchers, just like in the semifinal between Halep and Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Each of these players will try to drag the other around as they both have good movement on the court. This will probably result in long rallies that will provide plenty of action and emotion. This is a match that will feature long extended points instead of short ones and strong serves.
Halep has only dropped two sets on her way to the final and has beaten important players such as Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, Czech Karolina Pliskova, and Kerber. Wozniacki has also only dropped two set on her way here but she faced a somewhat easier opposition with no players ranked in the top 20.
Although Wozniacki has the head-to-head advantage and has won the three most recent meetings between these two players, right now Halep seems to be on a streak and will most likely win a very close match that will be decided in three sets.
Why? Mostly because the Romanian has not only steamrolled on her way to the final defeating tougher opponents, but this match takes place on hard surface where Halep has a 2-1 head-to-head lead against the Dane.
