On January 18, Marta Kostyuk (WTA 20) – Elsa Jacquemot (WTA 58) will meet in the first round of the Australian Open.

The match will start at 03.30 Kyiv time.

Sport.ua together with a betting partner bet announcing the upcoming fight!

Marta Kostyuk

The Ukrainian has been in the news since the beginning of this year due to his amazing performance in Brisbane. Yes, Marta could not win the championship, losing to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Here I want to talk more about Kostyuk’s path to the final, she eliminated three tennis players in the top 10, Amanda Anisimova (WTA 3), Mirra Andreeva (WTA 7) and Jessica Pegula (WTA 6), and at the beginning there was a victory over the experienced Putintseva.

Such a strong performance allowed the Ukrainian player to break into the top 20. I was impressed not only by the result, but also by the confident, mature game, there were no chances here, Marta was stronger than her strong opponents.

Elsa Jacquemot

The French tennis player cannot be called a rising star; he is 22 years old; He made a breakthrough last season, climbing more than a hundred places, which allowed him to break into the top 100. This year the athlete has already dropped three places in the world rankings.

The start of the season doesn’t look very optimistic yet; Jacquemo played in Brisbane and Hobart, losing in devastating fashion on both occasions. First he lost to Australian Tomljanovic 1:6, 3:6, then to the Polish Frenchman 4:6, 0:6. It is difficult to expect an outstanding game against such weak matches. Perhaps conclusions will be drawn from defeats, but here you will have to play even against an opponent stronger than the previous ones.

To guess

The tennis players are not far apart in the rankings, only 38 places and almost the same age in years, with Marta being a year older. Despite this, Kostyuk is considered the undisputed favorite by bookmakers.

Such quotes can be explained by the fact that the Ukrainian player was impressed in Brisbane and therefore they expected a strong performance from him. I would like to point out that the tennis players have never played each other before.

Looking ahead, I will say that in the next round the best of this pair will play with the winner of the pair Putintsev – Haddad Maya. I agree that Marta is in great form, so I’m betting her to win at 1.66 with a -5.5 game handicap.

Prediction Sport.ua

Marta Kostyuk

01/18/2026 –

03:30

Elsa Jacquemot

Handicap Kostyuk (-5.5) 1.66 place a bet KRAIL License No. 559 dated 12/05/2024

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January 18 Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina (WTA 12) The Australian Open will begin its performances in 2026.

In the 1/64 final the Ukrainian team will play against the Spanish representative Christina Buksha (WTA 51). The match will take place in the second start at John Cain Arena after the Feri-Cobolli match. The approximate start time of the match is 04:30 Kyiv time.

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This will be the first head-to-head meeting between the rivals.

The winner of the match will face Linda Klimovichova or Francesca Jones in the second round.

DAY CALENDAR

TOURNAMENT TABLE

On January 17, the finals took place in the tough tournaments ATP 250 in Adelaide (Australia) and ATP 250 in Auckland (New Zealand).

Czech became champion in Adelaide Tomah Makhach (ATP 35), who made it in the final Hugo Humbert In three batches over 2 hours and 52 minutes.

Toma played the third final of his career and won his second cup. He won the 500 title in Acapulco last season.

ATP 250 Adelaide. Difficult. Final

Hugo Humbert (France) – Tomas Machac (Czech Republic) [8] – 4:6, 7:6 (7:2), 2:6

In the deciding match of the New Zealand competition Yakub Menshik beat (Czech Republic, ATP 18) Sebastian Baez (Argentina, ATP 39) in two sets in 1 hour 24 minutes.

Jakub reached the Tour final for the third time in his career and won his second trophy. He became the Masters champion in Miami in 2025.

Menshik interrupted Baez’s seven-fight hitting streak.

ATP 250 Auckland. Difficult. Final

Sebastian Baez (Argentina) [7] – Yakub Menshik (Czech Republic) [3] – 3:6, 6:7 (7:9)