The 2018 Brisbane International is part of a dual-gender event in which both the WTA and ATP Tours gather during the same week in Australia to prepare for the Australian Open. The women’s event, though, has more than twice the size of the purse for the men’s event. It’s the first Premier level event of the season, a draw for a lot of the players on tour. There are a lot of big names participating, so it should be entertaining. It also makes it a little bit harder to handicap and pick a winner.
The competition in the 32-player main draw will begin on Sunday, December 31, 2017.
Event Details
Event: Brisbane International
Category: WTA Premier Level
Date: December 31, 2017 – January 6, 2018
Location: Queensland Tennis Centre – Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
With a prize money allotment of just under $895,000, this tournament is a first chance for a particularly fat paycheck in the new tennis season. The players who play here get to sharpen their games against top competition, and they don’t have to travel too far to Melbourne for the Australian Open, which starts a week after this tournament ends.
Points
Champion – 470 points
Runner-up – 305
Semifinal – 185
Quarterfinal – 100
Round of 16 – 55
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2017: Karolina Pliskova def. Alize Cornet, 6-0, 6-3
2016: Victoria Azarenka d. Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1
2015: Maria Sharapova d. Ana Ivanovic 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 6-3
2014: Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-5
2013: Serena Williams d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1
Player Info:
This is a loaded field. There are five members of the WTA top 10 at this tournament. Each of the top eight seeds are in the top 18.
Garbine Muguruza is the top seed. She won Wimbledon last year and is the most talented tennis player not named Serena Williams. When at her best, she is better than all the rest. She began to develop week-to-week consistency last season, which, if harnessed and sustained in 2018, will make her the foremost presence on the WTA Tour, including Serena.
Karolina Pliskova reached World No. 1 for a period of time last season. She was very solid through the French Open and made the semifinals of the WTA Finals. However, she lost ground at Wimbledon and at other points in the summer and fall. She will try to regroup here and build
Elina Svitolina won several Premier 5 tournaments last season and was a contender at the Grand Slams, but she lost leads to Simona Halep in the French Open quarterfinals and Madison Keys in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. She has world-class talent, but 2018 is a year when she needs to rise to the next level in the most important tournaments.
Caroline Garcia was the surprise star of the latter half of the 2017 season. She won back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing and reached the semifinals of the WTA Finals. She roared into the top eight and, after several years of struggles, could be on the verge of a climb to stardom. She wants to set the right tone before the Australian Open.
Jo Konta won the Miami championship and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. She notched some significant accomplishments last year but was very erratic and was then felled by injuries late in the summer and early in the fall. Health is her foremost priority. The second concern is developing more steadiness and becoming more immune to prolonged slumps.
The player who is not in the top 10 but is a big point of focus here is Ashleigh Barty. She caught fire late in the season, reaching the Wuhan final and the Zhuhai semifinals. She could join Garcia as the next big threat on the WTA Tour who is not already an established contender. The 2018 season is filled with a lot of promise.
Queensland Tennis Centre
The facility, built in 2009, is highly modern, with a lightweight roof which provides easy opening and closure while reducing original building costs. The overall tennis complex contains 23 courts. The stadium court with the roof has a total seating capacity of 7,000 – 5,500 fixed seats with an allowance for 1,500 mobile and temporary seats.
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