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Tournament favourite Swiatek in action on day one
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Brit hope Raducan also starts her campaign
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Xinyu Wang the best bet on day one
Swiatek faces US Open rematch against Niemeier
As with the men's event, matches in the women's singles get underway from midnight tonight (UK time) and there's plenty to discuss on a bumper day of tennis action.
Having been backed in a little since our outright preview and recommendation, tournament favourite Iga Swiatek faces Jule Niemeier of Germany, who gave Swiatek a tricky time at the US Open before the world number one eased through a deciding set 6-0.
Swiatek is 1.101/10 to get the win, and it would be a major shock if she failed to do so.
Kenin vs Azarenka one to look forward to
There's some cracking matches on the opening day, including two former Slam winners meeting as Sofia Kenin takes on Victoria Azarenka.
Kenin will be hoping the new year brings improvement after a disastrous 2022, producing hard court numbers below 93% service/return points won on hard court last year. Azarenka's level was far in excess of that, so it's little surprise that she's a solid 1.511/2 market favourite to move to round two.
Other interesting matches are former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu against Marie Bouzkova, but since that US Open title in 2019, the Canadian has only reached two career finals, losing both.
Andreescu's level is capable of being pretty volatile, so pricing this one up is a little tricky. The market has her as a 1.774/5 favourite, which to me looks vulnerable given Bouzkova's better numbers on hard court in the last 12 months.
Gauff strong favourite over Siniakova
Also worth watching will be Katerina Siniakova versus Cori Gauff, where Gauff is the 1.321/3 favourite. I'm still yet to be sold on Gauff's ability to win a Slam this year, given her current statistical profile, but of course there will be plenty of opportunities for her to do so throughout her career in the future.
What Gauff has done, though, so far in her career is shown a liking for the big stage and generally better results in higher value tournaments.
While that could be variance, if it is an ability, it's one which will stand her in good stead for years to come. For her to really challenge, I do feel she needs to improve her return numbers, which stand almost identical to the WTA Tour hard court mean over the last 12 months, but I can understand why she's a solid favourite to win tomorrow, at least.
Raducanu's injury one to watch
Should Gauff win, she'd set up a potential round two clash against Emma Raducanu, with the Brit a heavy favourite over Tamara Korpatsch despite the ankle injury which she picked up in Auckland last week.
Raducanu has the opposite problem to Gauff - being held back by mediocre serve data - and I'm pretty surprised she's as short as 1.21/5 here, even against an opponent who has shown pretty much no liking for hard courts in recent years.
Wang to storm past Hunter
In addition, I like the chances of Leolia Jeanjean, who should have too much as a slight favourite at 1.9520/21 on hard court for clay-courter opponent, Nadia Podoroska, while the same goes for Xinyu Wang against the home wild card, Storm Hunter.
Wang reached the quarter-final of the warm-up event in Hobart last week, and signed off 2022 with a ITF 60 level title in Tokyo. She looks quite an upgrade in opposition quality to that which Hunter has faced in recent months, and I'm surprised she's as big as 1.75/7 to progress.