Rybakina and Pegula Among Players to Watch in WTA Adelaide Event
2024 Adelaide International Odds
Keys, Muchova and Qinwen Have Withdrawn From the Adelaide Event
If the results at the event in Brisbane are any indication, it could be a memorable showing for the top seeds in the stop in Adelaide. Elena Rybakina leads the way in the 2024 Adelaide International odds.
The stars are doing just fine at the WTA Brisbane International event, with five of the top eight seeds reaching the quarterfinals. Will that carry over into Adelaide?
This is the final tune-up before the Australian Open. Iga Swiatek (+240) is the front-runner in the Australian Open outrights, according to the tennis odds. She is followed by defending champion Aryna Sabalenka at +450. Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff both come in at +800. Rybakina is the only one of those four set to compete in Adelaide.
The Adelaide International begins on Monday.
Rybakina Keeping Busy
Elena Rybakina dropped just six games in her first two matches to reach the quarterfinals in Brisbane and only had to play one set before Anastasia Potapova retired in the quarterfinal match. She will be the top seed in Adelaide as well, assuming she doesn’t become the latest top player to pull out of the WTA 500 event.
When looking at the scores and odds, Rybakina was a player to watch in the Australian-based events early in 2023. Rybakina had quick exits in both the tournaments held in Adelaide in 2023, losing to qualifier Marta Kostyuk in the Round of 16 and then dropping her first match in the next tournament to Petra Kvitova.
That didn’t stop Rybakina from reaching the Australian Open women’s singles final before falling to Aryna Sabalenka.
She struggled to match that success as she didn’t advance past the quarterfinals in the other three Grand Slams and lost two of her three matches at the WTA Finals in Cancun.
Pegula is Carrying the U.S. Hopes
It looked like there would be two Americans among the top eight seeds in Adelaide as both Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys would be been near the top of the 2024 Adelaide International odds. However, Keys is among the players who have withdrawn from the tournament.
Pegula is set to be the No. 2 seed in the tournament
Pegula moved up to No. 3 in the WTA rankings after winning the Korea Open and then winning her first four matches to reach the WTA Finals title match.
Pegula took out No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 seed Coco Gauff, and No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina before losing to Iga Swiatek.
Pegula did not play in the Adelaide events in 2023 but did win four of her matches in the United Cup that was held in Australia. That set the stage for her run to the Australian Open quarterfinals.
Karolina Muchova and Zheng Qinwen have also pulled out of the Adelaide tournament.
Five American players are in the qualifying draw, with Bernarda Pera, Ashlyn Krueger, and Taylor Townsend all seeded in the qualifying draw.
A Look At the Grand Slam Champions In the Field
Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, and 2021 French Open champ Barbora Krejcikova join Rybakina, the winner of Wimbledon in 2022 and the runner-up at the most recent Australian Open, as players to keep an eye on in this Australian Open tune-up tournament. They are among the players to watch, according to the 2024 Adelaide International odds.
Keep an eye on Angelique Kerber, a former champion at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open events. She joins Australian Ajla Tomljanovic as players given wild cards into the Adelaide field.
Kerber hadn’t played since the 2022 Wimbledon championships before playing in the United Cup.
Kerber’s most recent title came at the Strasbourg event the week before the 2022 French Open.
When looking at some recent WTA scores, Kerber took Caroline Garcia to three sets in her second match at the United Cup. She also lost in a third-set tiebreaker in her mixed doubles match.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
In the first of the 2023 events in Adelaide, four of the top eight seeds in the Adelaide 1 event lost in the first round.
After receiving a first-round bye, top-seeded Ons Jabeur and No. 2 seed Sabalenka reached the semifinals without losing a set.
Qualifier Linda Noskova, who eliminated No. 3 seed Daria Kasatkina and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, stunned Jabeur in three sets before falling to Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 in the title match.
In the 2023 Adelaide International 2 tournament, the top three seeds (Swiatek, Jabeur, and Pegula) all withdrew.
No. 5 seed Kasatkina and No. 8 seed Belinda Bencic both had walkovers in the semifinals before Bencic rolled to the 6-0, 6-2 win over Kasatkina to win the title.
