THE Australian Open is set to get underway this Sunday with British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper hoping to shake off injury concerns to make some noise Down Under.
Former US Open champion Raducanu, 22, had been due to get her season underway at the WTA 250 event in Auckland earlier this month.
The luckless star, however, was forced to pull out of the event for a second straight year, this time citing a back issue.
She has since headed to Australia and has been on the practise courts at Melbourne Park.
The world No.60 has drawn 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in round one of the Australian Open.
If she can get past the Russian, Raducanu could face Amanda Anisimova in round two.
And if the Brit can log two match wins, she would almost certainly face five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in round three.
Boffins and brainiacs over at Prime Casino have used their supercomputer to crunch the numbers and predict what will happen at the Australian Open.
Despite being ranked 34 places below Alexandrova, Raducanu is given a 61.1 per cent chance of taking her out to reach round two.
The supercomputer then claims that there is a 34.4 per cent chance that she will also take out the winner of Anisimova and Maria Lourdes Carle to advance to round three.
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This is where things would get really tricky, with Swiatek a formidable opponent – and the numbers give Raducanu just a 9.9 per cent chance of reaching the second week.
In round four she would then likely face either Anna Kalinskaya or Victoria Azarenka – and has been given a 6.2 per cent chance to advance to the quarters.
Should she reach the last eight, Emma Navarro or Maria Sakkari would be her projected opponents by seed, although this section of the draw could likely open up.
Raducanu is given a 3.5 per cent chance of reaching the final, and a 1.4 per cent of losing at the last hurdle – where she would meet either Aryna Sabalenka or Coco Gauff – and just a 0.4 per cent chance of winning the title.
R1 Ekaterina Alexandrova
R2 Carle/Anisimova
R3 Iga Swiatek
R4 Kalinskaya/Azarenka
QF Navarro/Sakkari
SF Rybakina/Collins
F Sabalenka/Gauff
Britain’s No.1 male player Draper, meanwhile, is 15th seed in Melbourne and has drawn Argentina’s Mariano Navone in round one.
Should he advance he would play Aussie home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis, or Roman Safiullin – and the first fellow seed he could meet is 22nd-ranked Seb Korda in round three.
Draper, who withdrew from the United Cup through injury and asked not to be selected for Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie vs Japan next month, could then be on a collision course with Carlos Alcaraz in round four.
Lying in wait could then be Novak Djokovic – coached by Draper’s pal and mentor Andy Murray.
He is given a 94.8 per cent chance of beating Navone, 65.4 per cent shot of taking out Kokkinakis or Safiullin and 44 per cent likelihood of defeating Korda to book the potential Alcaraz showdown.
The 23-year-old is given an 18.7 per cent shot of beating Alcaraz, and a 7.1 per cent chance of then going on to defeat Djokovic and reaching the semi-finals.
There is a 3.8 per cent chance of Draper advancing past the final four and losing in the final, and 1.1 per cent of winning the title.
R1 Mariano Navone
R2 Kokkinakis/Safiullin
R3 Seb Korda
R4 Carlos Alcaraz
QF Novak Djokovic
SF Zverev/Ruud
F Sinner/Fritz/Medvedev
World No.1 Jannik Sinner is the favourite to win the men’s event at 51.6 per cent.
Despite having fallen to No.7, Djokovic is distant second favourite at 14.1 per cent.
Alcaraz is next at eight per cent, with Alexander Zverev at 6.8 per cent.
As for the women’s draw, the supercomputer believes it is more open.
World No.1 Sabalenka is 23.5 per cent to win it, with Swiatek at 19.7 per cent and Gauff 16.8 per cent.
Reigning Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen is at eight per cent, ahead of former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on 5.7 per cent,
British hopeful Katie Boulter is given a 0.3 shot, marginally less than Raducanu.
