While the top half of women’s singles quarterfinals at the 2023 Australian Open features three Grand Slam champions, this bottom half has zero major titlists and two unseeded players. Let’s have a closer look at the quarterfinalists that are scheduled to take the court on Wednesday, January 25 at Melbourne Park.
Karolina Pliskova [30] vs. Magda Linette
Former world number one Karolina Pliskova has the best track record at majors of all the four quarterfinalists in her half of the draw, having played the finals of the US Open and Wimbledon. Magda Linette is the biggest surprise in the last eight, having never before been past the third round at a major.
Pliskova spent a total of just four hours and 33 minutes on court in her first four matches in Melbourne, the least of all WTA quarterfinalists, while Linette fought for two hours more. In addition, Pliskova is the leading quarterfinalist when it comes to the number of games lost en route to the final eight (18) and the number of aces hit so far this fortnight (28). By contrast, Linette has dropped 36 games en route to the quarterfinals, which makes her the worst performer in that respect.
We have to note that Linette overcame three Top 20 opponents (Caroline Garcia, Anett Kontaveit and Ekaterina Alexandrova), while Pliskova…
