{"id":6342,"date":"2018-01-22T20:46:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T01:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=6342"},"modified":"2018-01-22T23:27:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T04:27:42","slug":"will-win-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2018\/01\/22\/will-win-australian-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Will Win the Australian Open?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are down to the final eight men and women left competing for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/australian-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Australian Open<\/a> title. The competition is heating up and it\u2019s now time to look deeper into who the favourites are to win the first Grand Slam of 2018.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MEN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Throughout the tournament there have been an array of surprises, with big names dropping early and next generation stars shining through, causing some major upsets.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite: Rafael Nadal [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rafael Nadal has been in blistering form, only dropping a single set en route to a 10<sup>th<\/sup> Australian Open quarter-final. His win over Diego Schwartzman in the Round of 16 sent a message to the rest of the field and showed that last years finalist is ready to go one step further in 2018.<\/p>\n<p><em>Projected Path: Quarter Final \u2013 Marin Cilic [6]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Semi Final \u2013 Grigor Dimitrov [3]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Final \u2013 Roger Federer [2]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dark Horse: Grigor Dimitrov [3]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov looked very impressive in the Round of 16, dispatching of the unpredictable Australian, Nick Kyrgios, in four high-quality sets. Dimitrov looks to be playing great tennis and seemed to come up with big shots in the most important moments of the match. Dimitrov made the semi-finals at last year\u2019s Australian Open, but will have to overcome some of the worlds best to capture his maiden Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n<p><em>Projected Path: Quarter Final \u2013 Kyle Edmund <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Semi Final \u2013 Rafael Nadal [1]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Final \u2013 Roger Federer [2]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Xn4Z1mg-R1ZT0Hg5i1MwAg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com.au\/detail\/908999222\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Xn4Z1mg-R1ZT0Hg5i1MwAg',sig:'Wt3dCd2oKbA6Upk9OZgfUsvSZ4rGzCpLuDLjnFLrUbE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'908999222',caption: true ,tld:'com.au',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>WOMEN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The women\u2019s draw has been somewhat similar to previous years, with relative unknowns getting through to the late stages of the competition and the top seeds falling early.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite: Simona Halep [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Simona Halep looked shaky in the opening rounds having to survive some close encounters with dangerous opponents. The Romanian barely scrapped by Lauren Davis in the Round of 32, winning 15-13 in the third set. However, her 6-3, 6-2 win over Naomi Osaka in the Round of 16 let the rest of her competition know that she was back to top form.<\/p>\n<p><em>Projected Path: Quarter Final \u2013 Karolina Pliskova [6]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Semi Final \u2013 Madison Keys [17]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Final \u2013 Caroline Wozniacki [2]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"dLMm2KBoSQllU0TxelNVoA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com.au\/detail\/908606982\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'dLMm2KBoSQllU0TxelNVoA',sig:'ghuMm0c9m871EaYWGdrt68EUY66CLY8hHxsOAq7cb7g=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'908606982',caption: true ,tld:'com.au',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dark Horse: Angelique Kerber [21]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It seems unusual to call a former Australian Open champion a dark horse to win the title, however, having slipped down the rankings in 2017 Angelique Kerber is a true dark horse in the women\u2019s draw. The 21<sup>st<\/sup> seed has looked very impressive, winning all of her matches this year. The German produced a gritty performance to get through Su-Wei Hsieh in the previous round and looks the goods to progress further in the tournament.<\/p>\n<p><em>Projected Path: Quarter Final \u2013 Madison Keys [17]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Semi Final \u2013 Simona Halep [1]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Final \u2013 Caroline Wozniacki [2]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"-yyNWuq9SGtOTjOPXBEQrg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com.au\/detail\/908721126\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-yyNWuq9SGtOTjOPXBEQrg',sig:'WtTVm_dQkKpl6HvG8q1J_RpwWGr8aJ0Tgl-jl9vupgA=',w:'594px',h:'408px',items:'908721126',caption: true ,tld:'com.au',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Main Image:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"62DQA_OBSLxulDZAx9UWbQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com.au\/detail\/908167528\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'62DQA_OBSLxulDZAx9UWbQ',sig:'uQ2b8ho3GL1TyYpEE1xPUYmBbrl-QLb4gvyx05gA1eE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'908167528',caption: true ,tld:'com.au',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are down to the final eight men and women left competing for the Australian Open title. The competition is heating up and it\u2019s now time to look deeper into who the favourites are to win the first Grand Slam of 2018. MEN Throughout the tournament there have been an array of surprises, with big [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2064,"featured_media":6343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,69,4],"tags":[2137,24,205,2363,1334,1124,411,2552,2575,147,187,2550,490,63,50,2556,476,209,2551,710,135,114,2526,74,2511],"class_list":["post-6342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-atp","category-australian-open","category-predictions","category-wta","tag-2018-australian-open","tag-angelique-kerber","tag-australian-open","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-carolina-wozniacki","tag-diego-schwartzman","tag-grigor-dimitrov","tag-grigor-dimitrov-australian-open","tag-hsei-su-wei","tag-karolina-pliskova","tag-kyle-edmund","tag-kyle-edmund-australian-open","tag-lauren-davis","tag-madison-keys","tag-marin-cilic","tag-marin-cilic-australian-open","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-nick-kyrgios","tag-nick-kyrgios-australian-open","tag-rafa-nadal","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer","tag-roger-federer-australian-open","tag-simona-halep","tag-su-wei-hsieh"],"modified_by":"Brandon Wall","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2064"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}