The second round of the Australian Open kicks off on Day 4 as 64 women remain in the first Grand Slam draw of 2026. Some of the best in the world will be in action on Day 4, including American star Coco Gauff squaring off against Olga Danilovic. Elsewhere around the grounds, we offer predictions for Emma Raducanu vs Anastasia Potapova, Mirra Andreeva vs Maria Sakkari, and Aryna Sabalenka vs Zhuoxuan Bai. Ilemona Onekutu, Zain Mustafa, and Jordan Reynolds provide their insights. But who will advance?<\/p>\n
Ilemona<\/strong> Zain<\/strong> Jordan<\/strong> Ilemona<\/strong> Zain<\/strong> Jordan<\/strong> Ilemona<\/strong> Zain<\/strong> Jordan<\/strong> Ilemona<\/strong> Zain<\/strong> Jordan<\/strong> Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke – Imagn Images<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The second round of the Australian Open kicks off on Day 4 as 64 women remain in the first Grand Slam draw of 2026. Some of the best in the world will be in action on Day 4, including American star Coco Gauff squaring off against Olga Danilovic. Elsewhere around the grounds, we offer predictions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4067,"featured_media":82734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[69],"tags":[15376,16273,205,2363,11133,15422,2747,15732,42396,42397,3716,15527,3940,16296,4210,17122,2373,2369,5398,15535],"class_list":["post-96267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-alycia-parks","tag-alycia-parks-predictions","tag-australian-open","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-clara-tauson","tag-clara-tauson-predictions","tag-coco-gauff","tag-coco-gauff-predictions","tag-iva-jovic","tag-iva-jovic-predictions","tag-karolina-muchova","tag-karolina-muchova-predictions","tag-olga-danilovic","tag-olga-danilovic-predictions","tag-priscilla-hon","tag-priscilla-hon-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-veronika-kudermetova","tag-veronika-kudermetova-predictions"],"modified_by":"Shane Black","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96267","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=96267"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96279,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96267\/revisions\/96279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJovic came through her opening match showing maturity beyond her years, managing momentum swings impressively. Hon worked hard to advance but looked vulnerable when rallies extended.
\nPrediction: Jovic in 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nShort on match wins and in front of a home crowd, Priscilla Hon had a come-from-behind win in her first round, something that should give her confidence. But Iva Jovic is currently playing the better tennis and should be able to dictate the match with her forehand to cruise to a win.
\nPrediction: Jovic in 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJovic continued the momentum from her run to the Hobart International final in the previous round against Katie Volynets. Hon, who strikes the ball much harder than Volynets, presents a different challenge, and Jovic will need to defend more. The young star is capable of doing that, and I think she will overcome this tough task.
\nPrediction: Jovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\nVeronika Kudermetova vs Clara Tauson<\/h4>\n
\nKudermetova\u2019s first round was about efficiency, winning most of the key points without overplaying. Tauson showed flashes of power, but inconsistency under pressure remains an issue against steady baseline resistance.
\nPrediction: Kudermetova in 3<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis is a matchup between two power baseliners, so a lot of winners and very few long rallies should be expected. While that means either player can win, I think this playstyle will favour Clara Tauson more than Polina Kudermetova, as she is the slightly bigger hitter and the better server here.
\nPrediction: Tauson in 3<\/em><\/p>\n
\nKudermetova will find it hard to be as aggressive as normal against one of the WTA\u2019s biggest hitters. Defending and digging in does not suit her, and I doubt she will withstand the Dane\u2019s groundstrokes. Only a poor performance from Tauson could cause an upset.
\nPrediction: Tauson in 2<\/em><\/p>\nKarolina Muchova vs Alycia Parks<\/h4>\n
\nMuchova eased into the tournament with a composed opening win, mixing variation and defense well. Parks hit through her first-round opponent, but Muchova\u2019s ability to absorb and redirect pace should blunt that weapon.
\nPrediction: Muchova in 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAlycia Parks did exceptionally well to come back from a bagel first set against Alexandra Eala and a passionate crowd to reach this round. Still, Karolina Muchova is the better player and should have more than enough weapons in her arsenal to reach the third round.
\nPrediction: Muchova in 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nParks showed outstanding courage to fight back from losing the opening set 0-6 against Alexandra Eala, beating the Filipina and a very noisy crowd. Muchova\u2019s variety seems like a bad matchup for the American on paper, but she beat the Czech at the 2025 French Open. In Muchova\u2019s defense, that was her first match in two months because of an injury. I feel she will play better here to prevail.
\nPrediction: Muchova in 2<\/em><\/p>\nCoco Gauff vs Olga Danilovic<\/h4>\n
\nGauff\u2019s first-round performance was clean and assertive, especially on return where she consistently applied pressure. Danilovic struck the ball well in her opener, but if forced to defend repeatedly, the balance swings toward Gauff.
\nPrediction: Gauff in 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nCoco Gauff had a comfortable first-round match in which she didn\u2019t really do much exceptionally but still won comfortably, showcasing just how dangerous she can be. Olga Danilovic did well to outlast Venus Williams in the third set of her match, but against Gauff, she likely does not have another Houdini act left.
\nPrediction: Gauff in 2<\/em><\/p>\n
\nDanilovic will want Gauff to have one of her poor serving days, since the Serbian can be very dangerous on second serve return. More positively for the American, her backhand is better placed than any in women\u2019s tennis to counter Danilovic\u2019s massive cross-court forehand. Even if Gauff serves badly, it will be hard for Danilovic to win against an opponent who can neutralise her biggest weapon.
\nPrediction: Gauff in 2<\/em><\/p>\n