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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Women to watch at the Australian Open, which begins Monday:
SERENA WILLIAMS
Seeded: 1
Age: 32
Country: United States
2013 Match Record: 78-4
2013 Singles Titles: 11
Career Singles Titles: 58
Major Titles: 17 _ Australian Open ('03, 05,07, 09,10), French Open ('02, 13) , Wimbledon ('02,03, 09,10, 12), U.S. Open ('99,02, 08,12, `13).
Last 5 Australian Opens: 13-QF,12-4th, 11-DNP,10-W, `09-W.
Topspin: How to improve on 2013 might be Williams' biggest problem. She gave it a good first shot, beating Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka to win the Brisbane International last week, her 58th career title. ... Her 11 titles last year included the French Open and U.S. Open. ... She compiled a 34-match winning streak and earned more than $12 million in prize money, a record for women's tennis. ... Her .951 winning percentage _ 78 wins from 82 matches _ was the best since Steffi Graf's .977 in 1989 and her winning streak was the longest since her sister, Venus, had a 35-match run in 2000. ... Since winning the Australian Open for the fifth time in 2010, it's been a bit quiet for her at Melbourne Park, losing in the fourth round in 2012 and the quarterfinals to Sloane Stephens last year.
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VICTORIA AZARENKA
Seeded: 2
Age: 24
Country: Belarus
2013 Match Record: 43-9
2013 Singles Titles: 3
Career Singles Titles: 17
Major Titles: 2 _ Australian Open ('13, `12)
Last 5 Australian Opens: 13-W,12-W, 11-4th,10-QF, `09-4th.
Topspin: Back to the scene of her only two Grand Slam titles, including a win last year over Li Na in the final. ... Two of her more impressive wins came later in the year against someone who rarely lost in 2013, Serena Williams. Those victories in the finals at Doha and Cincinnati made her only player to beat Williams twice last year. ... Azarenka's 2013 was affected by injuries on the right side of her body _ toe (withdrew at Brisbane due to a bad pedicure), foot (withdrew from Dubai), ankle (withdrew before quarterfinal at Indian Wells and then from Miami and Monterey), then knee (withdrew before 2nd-round match at Wimbledon). For good measure, she withdrew from Toronto ahead of the U.S. Open with a back injury, she recovered to reach the final at the U.S. Open. ... Advanced to the Brisbane International final last weekend, losing to Serena Williams in straight sets.
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LI NA
Seeded: 3.
Age: 31
Country: China
2013 Match Record: 44-14
2013 Singles Titles: 1
Career Singles Titles: 8
Major Titles: 1 _ French Open ('11)
Last 5 Australian Opens: 13-F,12-4th, 11-F,10-SF, `09-DNP.
Topspin: Li has twice lost the final at Rod Laver Arena, last year to Victoria Azarenka and two years earlier to Kim Clijsters. ... Won just one title last season, at Shenzen. Defended her title a week ago. ... She reached two other finals in 2013, losing to Maria Sharapova at Stuttgart and to Serena Williams in the WTA Championships. ... Li is the highest-ranking Asian player ever and is a crowd favorite with the Melbourne Park fans owing to her outgoing personality and often public pronouncements _ mostly tongue in cheek _ about her relationship with her husband and former coach Jiang Shan.
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MARIA SHARAPOVA
Seeded: 4
Age: 26
Country: Russia
2013 Match Record: 37-7
2013 Singles Titles: 2
Career Singles Titles: 29
Major Titles: 4 _ Wimbledon ('04), U.S. Open ('06), Australian Open ('08), French Open ('12)
Last 5 Australian Opens: 13-SF,12-F, 11-4th, 10-1st,09-DNP.
Topspin: Sharapova went 36-5 in first half of last year, winning two WTA titles at Indian Wells and Stuttgart before illness and injury kept her on the sidelines for most of the last half of 2013. ... She lost three finals to Serena Williams at Miami, Madrid and the French Open. After withdrawing from Stanford and Toronto with a left hip injury, she lost her opening match at Cincinnati to American Sloane Stephens then missed the rest of the season with the right shoulder injury, withdrawing from the U.S. Open, Tokyo, Beijing and the WTA Championships. ... Now coached by Sven Groeneveld after a very brief _ one tournament _ connection with Jimmy Connors. ... Lost in the Brisbane International semifinals to Serena Williams last week, her 14th consecutive loss in career head-to-head matches with Williams. .... She's in a relationship with fellow pro Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. ... Has one of the highest number of Facebook followers for a female sports person _ 11.3 million fans. She joined Twitter last January and has 748,000 followers.
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PETRA KVITOVA
Seeded: 6
Age: 23
Country: Czech Republic
2013 Match Record: 51-23.
2013 Singles Titles: 2
Career Singles Titles: 11
Major Titles: 1 _ Wimbledon ('11)
Last 5 Australian Opens: 13-2nd,12-SF, 11-QF,10-2nd, `09-1st.
Topspin: Had her first and only Grand Slam win at Wimbledon in 2011 and didn't get close to a second major in 2013. ... Won titles at Dubai and Tokyo, but was out in the second round at the Australian Open, the third rounds at the French Open and U.S. Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. ... Coached by former Czech Fed Cup team coach David Kotyza since 2008. ... Favorite tournament is predictably Wimbledon but she lists her favorite city as Melbourne. ... In 2014, lost in the semifinals at the Sydney International after playing at the Hopman Cup.
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CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
Seeded: 10
Age: 23
Country: Denmark
2013 Match Record: 39-22
2013 Singles Titles: 1.
Career Singles Titles: 21.
Major Titles: 0 _ Best: F, at U.S. Open in `09
Last 5 Australian Opens: 12-QF,11-SF, 10-4th,09-3rd, `08-4th.
Topspin: Perhaps, to coin a phrase knocked around in golf: the best player on the WTA Tour never to have won a Grand Slam. Certainly the most publicized one. Started off this year with good news off the court, she's engaged to golfer Rory McIlroy. ... The former No. 1 finished in the top 10 for the fifth consecutive season, winning her only title at Luxembourg. ... Probably best known in Australia for her contrived kangaroo attack story from 2011. After saying in a media conference that she wanted to overturn a perception that she was boring, she told a tale about a frisky kangaroo scratching her on her leg, only to admit a few hours later that she made the story up. She may have endeared herself to fans, though, by poking fun at herself after the gaffe. ... After her quarterfinal win in 2011, she walked into a news conference wearing boxing gloves and holding a large, inflatable kangaroo ... Starting 2014 by withdrawing from the Brisbane International due to a sore shoulder and lost in the second round at Sydney.
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SLOANE STEPHENS
Seeded: 13
Age: 20
Country: United States
2013 Match Record: 29-23
2013 Singles Titles: 0
Career Singles Titles: 0
Major Titles: 0 _ Best: SF, at Australian Open ('13)
Last 5 Australian Opens: 13-SF,12-2nd, 11-DNP,10-DNP, `09-DNP.
Topspin: A player beyond her years and experience at Grand Slam tournaments. ... Went 15-4 in majors last year, including a quarterfinal win at Melbourne Park over Serena Williams before losing in the semifinals to Azarenka. ... Advanced to the fourth round at the French Open, losing to Maria Sharapova, the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, losing to Marion Bartoli, and again the fourth round at the U.S. Open, losing to Williams. ... Outside of the majors, her record was 24-19. ... At the Hopman Cup earlier this month, Stephens retired from her last match with a left wrist injury, the recurrence of a previous ailment, and later withdrew from the Sydney International. ... Expects to be fit for Melbourne.
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Follow Dennis Passa on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DennisPassa
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