IN the other WTA event running parallel to the Yarra Valley Classic, the 2021 Gippsland Trophy features three Grand Slam winners amongst the seven Top 20 players who have entered the event. With Ash Barty headlining the Yarra Valley Classic, the talking point of the Gippsland Trophy will be that the two most recent Grand Slam winners will be competing for a WTA 500 title in this draw.

The 2020 US Open and Roland Garros winners in Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek respectively, will play their first matches since lifting their titles aloft last year. Osaka missed the French Open due to injury, so her last match was the three-set final win over Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. Swiatek’s win on clay was one of the most stunning titles in tennis history, bolstering her all the way up inside the Top 20, having come from nowhere after an okay but not outstanding season. The 19-year-old is the future of tennis, with Osaka still a rising star on Tour, but has three Grand Slams to her name already.

Swiatek is only seeded sixth at this event, and with Osaka the second ranked player (world number three), Simona Halep comes in as top seed and world number two. The Romanian is the other Grand Slam winner in the draw, and she had plenty of rest throughout 2020 to set up for a big 2021. Always strong in Australia, she and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (third seed) will be eyeing off strong starts to 2021.

Someone who has already had a strong start to 2021, and has remarkably not lost since October, is fourth seed Aryna Sabakenka. Now ranked inside the Top 10 for the first time, the Belarusian power hitter has a chance to prove herself against the world’s best. She won at Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago, and could realistically be considered favourite given her 15-game winning streak. Sabalenka has not really impacted at Grand Slam level yet, but many are hoping the recent scintillating form – which included a win over Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin – will begin her journey to taking the next step.

Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova round out the top eight seeds, while traditional fast-starter Ekaterina Alexandrova is the ninth ranked player. Of the quartet, Mertens showed enough at the back-end that she can have a good start, while Alexandrova has not had the chance to collect her annual trophy at Limoges in December, so she will start fresh in Melbourne.

What makes the draw at the Gippsland Trophy so interesting is the depth of it, with Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff and Polona Hercog all there and inside the Top 50 ready to jump up. Throw in Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo and Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich, and even the bottom-end has some good talent. Chloe Paquet joins former top ranked players Sara Errani and Lesia Tsurenko as qualifying and lucky loser additions, whilst the lowest ranked player pre-wildcards is Russian Valeria Savinykh who comes in at 225th in the world.

Until she loses, Sabalenka has earned favouritism, but you have to consider both Osaka and Swiatek are coming off undefeated streaks at their respective Grand Slams, which makes this the pick of the tournaments in terms of form an depth.

Picture credit: Jimmie48/WTA Tour