A straightforward first round?

Not so sure about that...

Matchup between a player I’m an absolute fan of and a slightly underrated Romanian. In terms of form, we’ve got a Ukrainian who started her season well, and Ruse, who had very good qualifying runs but went out in the first round at her last two tournaments. Although Ruse has always beaten Yastremska, that goes back too far to be a valid argument today. Yastremska has kept evolving, whereas Ruse has never managed to settle in the top 70 for long. The gap in level really shows.

Yastremska, let’s not forget, reached the semi-finals here in 2024 starting from the qualifiers. In 2025, she already has two finals, one semi-final and one quarter-final. You can’t say the same about the Romanian, who only has a single W75 title. They’re clearly not playing in the same league. Yastremska also put up a very good fight against Pegula in Brisbane in the round of 16. Ultra-aggressive tennis, maximum risk-taking, powerful serve… When she quickly finds her lines, she can hurt absolutely any player.

Ruse is still a very good technician, with lots of experience, but I doubt she can contain the Ukrainian’s power. Yastremska almost always gets through a first round in a Grand Slam and has about a 90% win rate against players outside the top 50. Finally, she completely tanked Adelaide on purpose (6/0 6/1 ^^) against Siniakova so she could arrive in top shape and prepare as much as possible for Melbourne. I have high expectations for Yastremska this year.