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17-year-old Destanee Aiava will play the biggest match of her young career when she steps onto Rod Laver Arena against world No.1 Simona Halep. Join The Roar for live scores from around 2:30pm (AEDT).
Aiava comes into her second Australian Open with a cloud over her head and uncertainty surrounding her career.
After winning the wildcard play-off at the end of 2017, beating Tammi Patterson in the final, she has begun 2018 poorly, although, for someone as young as Aiava, it’s hard to justify what is poor and what isn’t.
Nonetheless, she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets during the first round of the Brisbane International, before going on to struggle at the Kooyong Classic.
Following the event at Kooyong, she was quoted as saying she needed a break away from tennis and would seek that out following the Australian Open.
“This whole tennis thing is kind of getting to me. Hopefully, after the (Australian) Open, I will get a break which is what I want and what I need,” said Aiava.
Aiava is one of Australia’s brightest young talents, but her potential off-court issues are of serious concern and things could get very ugly if she doesn’t arrive on Rod Laver Arena ready to play and fight for a spot in the second round against the best in the world right now.
Of course, even if Aiava was at 100 per cent for this match, beating Halep is something not a great deal of players have done in the last 12 months.
After her shock first-round exit at the 2017 US Open against a returning Maria Sharapova, she made a tournament final in Beijing and has got her 2018 off to a stellar start, taking victory in Shenzen.
Across five matches, the world No.1 lost just two sets and was dominant the whole way through.
Her form suggests she is going to be tough to beat throughout the first grand slam of the year and she will be using this match to check on her form after a week training.
She has been serving consistently, up at around 70 per cent and if she is going to take victory in Melbourne, that will again have to be at a high level.
The pair have never played before this meeting and the winner will take on either Eugenie Bouchard or Oceane Dodin in what could be a tricky second-round fixture.
Prediction
Halep will walk all over the 17-year old. Aiava couldn’t have got a tougher draw and will be lucky to hold her serve more than twice.
Halep in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this first-round match from around 2:30pm (AEDT) or at the conclusion of Thomas Fabbiano vs Alexander Zverev, and don’t forget to add a comment below.