Karolina Muchova vs Danielle Collins Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Australian Open

Prediction published on 17/01/2023, 06:17  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 17/01/2023 at 07:50 in Tennis Predictions

2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins is up against Karolina Muchova in the second round of this year's tournament. Collins is the 13th seed but under pressure to again go deep in this Grand Slam. That's because the American is defending the points won last year when losing to Ashleigh Barty (now retired) in the Australian Open final. Collins began this tournament ranked 11th in the world but is down to 29th in the liver rankings. Collins certainly loves this Grand Slam and also reached the semi-finals in 2019. Her only other Grand Slam quarter final was in the 2020 French Open. The American didn't build on reaching last year's final and won just one match at Roland Garros and Wimbledon before reaching the fourth round in New York. Collins played both of the Adelaide International tournaments earlier this month. The first saw her lose to Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina but she got to the last eight of the second, being beaten by Veronika Kudermetova. The first round of this Australian Open was a bit of a struggle as Collins needed three sets to get past unseeded Anna Kalinskaya. 

Karolina Muchova is the world number 133 and gained automatic entry into this tournament via a protected ranking. Injury has caused her to drop down the rankings and her career-high position is 19th achieved in May 2021. That was the year Muchova made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open but she missed last year's tournament. She did play in the other three though but after a third round at Roland Garros, lost in the first round at Wimbleon and in the US Open. The final months of 2022 didn't go well for her with three losses in her last four matches. The new year began with her playing in the Auckland Classic where she lost to Rebeka Masarova (ranked 130th at the time) losing in straight sets, both going to a tie-break. The first round saw Muchova beat qualifier Lesia Tsurenko (ranked 134th) for the loss of only three games and that's taken her to 115th in the live rankings. Back Collins to get the win .