{"id":95967,"date":"2026-01-17T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=95967"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:28:37","slug":"australian-open-day-1-womens-predictions-williams-danilovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/01\/17\/australian-open-day-1-womens-predictions-williams-danilovic\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 1 Women’s Predictions Including Venus Williams vs Olga Danilovic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Grand Slam of this year is here as 256 singles players have descended upon Melbourne to compete for the Australian Open title. Day 1 kicks off with 16 women’s matches, including Venus Williams vs Olga Danilovic. Our other prediction articles feature Aryna Sabalenka vs Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah<\/a>, Jasmine Paolini vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich<\/a>, and Emma Raducanu vs Mananchaya Sawangkaew<\/a>. Offering their insights and predictions are Zain Mustafa, Ateet Shrivastava, and Ilemona Onekutu. But who will advance?<\/p>\n

Australian Open Day 1 Women’s Predictions<\/h2>\n

Elina Svitolina vs Cristina Bucsa<\/h4>\n

Zain<\/strong>
\nBucsa enters this match as the clear underdog, but her tactical ability and flatter strokes on this surface can be productive. Ultimately, against Svitolina, a player who is in great form and coming into Melbourne off a title run, it might be a bridge too far.
\nPrediction: Svitolina in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona<\/strong>
\nSvitolina\u2019s defensive skills and court awareness make her extremely hard to break down in these conditions. Bucsa\u2019s consistency may keep it close, but Svitolina\u2019s timing should separate them.
\nPrediction: Svitolina in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nElina Svitolina looked brilliant en route to her title in Auckland and will arrive at the Australian Open full of confidence. She is defending quarterfinal points from last year and will be looking to make a solid start. Cristina Bucsa is a gritty player, but doesn\u2019t have the weapons to trouble the Ukrainian.
\nPrediction: Svitolina in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Marta Kostyuk vs Elsa Jacquemot<\/h4>\n

Zain<\/strong>
\nJacquemot has strengths that can be real positives on a hard court, with her heavy backhand dictating play at times. Kostyuk, on the other hand, arguably played some of the best tennis of her career in Brisbane, and her form there makes it very difficult for me to see the Frenchwoman winning this match.
\nPrediction: Kostyuk in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona<\/strong>
\nKostyuk\u2019s variety and ability to change pace give her more options during longer rallies. If she stays composed, she should dictate most of the match.
\nPrediction: Kostyuk in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nMarta Kostyuk astonished many with her amazing tennis in Brisbane, which propelled her to the finals. She has the potential to have a tremendous Australian Open if she continues to play at that level. Elsa Jacquemot has not made a good start to the season, and I don’t see her doing much in this match.
\nPrediction: Kostyuk in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

Caty McNally vs Himeno Sakatsume<\/h4>\n

Zain<\/strong>
\nSakatsume did well to come through qualifying, but McNally has the bigger weapons. This should be a close one that the American edges out.
\nPrediction: McNally in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona<\/strong>
\nMcNally\u2019s instincts at the net and willingness to move forward add a different dimension on hard courts. That aggression should help her control the big moments.
\nPrediction: McNally in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nCaty McNally has a solid game on hard courts and will be looking to get her first win of the season after two tough three-set losses. Himeno Sakatsume has done a lot of winning this season, but she has not faced any top-100 opponents. I am going with the American to snap her losing streak in a close match.
\nPrediction: McNally in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Venus Williams vs Olga Danilovic<\/h4>\n

Zain<\/strong>
\nWhenever a Williams sister plays, no matter the tournament or the occasion, it is expected to be a sold-out affair with a passionate crowd. At the US Open last year, Venus showed us enough to believe that she can stitch a couple of great sets together, but against Danilovic, a player who likes to drag out rallies, this might again be a step too far for the 45-year-old.
\nPrediction: Danilovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona<\/strong>
\nVenus still thrives when points are on her terms, especially with her serve setting the tone. If she keeps rallies short, her experience should shine through.
\nPrediction: Williams in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Ateet<\/strong>
\nTwo-time finalist Venus Williams is competing at the Australian Open for the first time since 2021 via a wild card. The fans will be delighted to see a legend, but it\u2019s hard to expect much from her against a tricky opponent like Olga Danilovic.
\nPrediction: Danilovic in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Desert Sun\/USAToday Images<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Grand Slam of this year is here as 256 singles players have descended upon Melbourne to compete for the Australian Open title. Day 1 kicks off with 16 women’s matches, including Venus Williams vs Olga Danilovic. Our other prediction articles feature Aryna Sabalenka vs Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah, Jasmine Paolini vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4067,"featured_media":87034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[69],"tags":[2363,3245,15801,15195,15843,394,15585,12584,16905,41553,41554,2372,15534,3940,16296,2373,2369,70,15651],"class_list":["post-95967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-caty-mcnally","tag-caty-mcnally-predictions","tag-cristina-bucsa","tag-cristina-bucsa-predictions","tag-elina-svitolina","tag-elina-svitolina-predictions","tag-elsa-jacquemot","tag-elsa-jacquemot-predictions","tag-himeno-sakatsume","tag-himeno-sakatsume-predictions","tag-marta-kostyuk","tag-marta-kostyuk-predictions","tag-olga-danilovic","tag-olga-danilovic-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-venus-williams","tag-venus-williams-predictions"],"modified_by":"Shane Black","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95967","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\/4067"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95967"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96016,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95967\/revisions\/96016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}