Adelaide International: Top five favorites and prediction for women’s singles

Ash Barty looks to return to form as part of the Adelaide International this week. Here, we list the top five favorites and make our winner prediction.

A new tournament is featured in Week 2 of the WTA Tour season as some of the game’s top stars do battle at the Adelaide International.

With the Australian Open fast approaching, the Adelaide International is the Premier event taking place this week, while there is a WTA International tournament in Hobart.

Week 1 saw Karolina Pliskova win in Brisbane, Serena Williams triumph in Auckland and Ekaterina Alexandrova emerge as the victor in Shenzhen.

Some of the highest ranked WTA stars like Pliskova, Naomi Osaka and Elina Svitolina will not play events as they fine-tune their games ahead of Melbourne.

Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from this tournament after initially planning to play, similarly to Novak Djokovic in the men’s Adelaide International, which will run concurrently.

But others will take the opportunity to get some valuable match practise, as well as bidding to add silverware and ranking points to make a fast start in 2020.

Guided by the latest odds, we have listed the players who are considered the top five favorites to win the Adelaide International, starting with number 5 below. At the end, we have predicted the winner.

5: Belinda Bencic

Bencic was a late addition to this event as a wildcard following the withdrawal of Venus Williams.

The US Open semifinalist will be desperate to recapture some form after surprisingly going out in the first round of the Shenzhen Open, where she was the top seed.

Following Kvitova’s decision not to play, Bencic goes into the event as the third-highest seed, though her Shenzhen loss to Anna Blinkova is likely what puts her below her seeding here.

Bencic starts against Daria Kasatkina, a former rival from the junior ranks who has beaten her in two of their three professional meetings.