A QUICK turnaround from the Australian Open sees a WTA 500 event take place with a host of players outside the world’s Top 20 and throughout the Top 100 looking to boost their ranking ahead of the hardcourt season outside Australasia.

After some impressive tennis at Melbourne Park despite a second round exit to Naomi Osaka, Czech world number 20 Karolina Muchova accepted a wildcard to be top seed in the 2025 Upper Austria Ladies Linz event.

Muchova is the favourite to win the tournament, though both her and her biggest threat in second seed Elina Svitolina will make life difficult for the rest of the field that is not short on up-and-coming talent. Interestingly, defending champion Jelena Ostapenko opted not to return and will likely drop outside the Top 30 because of it.

Australian Open lucky loser who reached a record-breaking fourth round in German Eva Lys received a wildcard and will face a qualifier up first, before a likely battle with fellow hard hitter Elina Avanesyan – who is seventh seed – in the second round. The pair have a relatively soft quarter with only fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova outside other qualifiers, while the bottom half of the draw is stacked.

Former Top 10 talent Maria Sakkari will hope to reverse her 2025 form by a deep run in Austria, as fifth seeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska and in-form Italian Lucia Bronzetti go head-to-head in the same quarter. In the bottom quarter, rising Danish talent Clara Tauson and Svitolina are on a crash course for the quarter finals, though the links of Anhelina Kalinina, Sorana Cirstea and Anna Blinkova are all there too.

Muchova has a bye in the Round of 32 much like the other top four seeds, before likely facing Kiwi Lulu Sun in the second round, and Anastasia Potapova in the quarter finals. It is hard to see the Czech not cruising through the draw given her quality, and the winner of the event will gain a crucial 500 points towards boosting their rankings.

PREDICTION

The top two seeds in Muchova and Svitolina really should make it through to the final, though Muchova has the softer run of the pair. Her main challenge will come from the likes of Alexandrova, Avanesyan or Lys, while Svitolina could face Blinkova, Tauson and either Sakkari or Yastremska en route to the decider. Muchova in three over Svitolina in the final.