Karolina Pliskova

Pliskova turned a massive corner in her career last September when she made it past the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time and reached the US Open Final. And the Czech is in the form of her life in 2017. She’s already powered to two titles, two semi-finals and the Australian Open quarter-final. She boasts a 23-4 win-loss record, has beaten Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina, Dominika Cibulkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and is now World No.3 and No.1 in the Race to Singapore.

It is possibly even more encouraging to look at the calibre of player it has taken to beat Pliskova. Only Wozniacki, Kuznetsova, Kristina Mladenovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni have done it so far, and it is difficult to imagine weaker players beating her more than once or twice this year.

However, the next step is the most difficult of all: winning a Grand Slam. There is no doubt the Czech is capable. She has a brilliant serve, a potent forehand, and a good backhand. She has also become more consistent and has improved her weaknesses: net play and movement. So if Pliskova can put together a run of seven top-quality performances at one of the three remaining majors this year, she could be the player who lifts the trophy.

Johanna Konta

To occupy a place in the world’s top ten, you have to be a very good hard court player, and Konta is one of the best. Within the last ten months, she has won three WTA Premier titles on the surface (two of them in 2017) – in Stanford, Sydney and most recently in Miami. These performances indicate she is a formidable opponent for anyone on a hard court, and they have carried her to No.7 in the world and No.3 in the Race to Singapore.

The fact that Konta has won two tournaments this year is not the only thing that is impressive. The Brit beat World No.8 Agnieszka Radwanska in the Sydney final, then Simona Halep, Venus Williams, and Wozniacki in Miami. She also beat Wozniacki at the Australian Open. By anyone’s standards, this is a brilliant set of results.

As always, there is a next step. For Konta to rise even further in the rankings, she will either have to win a hard court Grand Slam or improve her performances on clay and grass. In the immediate future, that means she needs to play well in Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome – all big events. If she can reach the quarter-final stage in one or more of these tournaments, for the first time ever on clay, it would be a significant achievement and would set her up well for the French Open. Looking at her previous clay season results, good performances seem unlikely, but the Brit is making a habit of confounding expectations so perhaps she can do it again.

Caroline Wozniacki

The only thing missing from the Dane’s year so far is a title. She has reached three finals and four quarter-finals and has a 25-8 win-loss record. She has also beaten Pliskova, Muguruza, Madison Keys, and Agnieszka Radwanska, is on the verge of getting back into the world’s top ten for the first time since September 2015, and currently, sits at No.2 in the Race to Singapore.

However, Wozniacki cannot get over the last hurdle and win a tournament, and she has now lost 20 finals in her career. If she had won them all, she would boast a mightily impressive 45 titles to her name. Admittedly, her 2017 losses in finals could be considered unlucky as she has lost to three of the most in-form players on the WTA tour: Pliskova, Svitolina and Johanna Konta.

But the same old problem is holding her back: a lack of big weapons. In all three finals, she has been blasted off the court in straight sets by a more destructive opponent. Even Svitolina, whose main strength (like Wozniacki’s) is defending, stepped up her aggression to a level the Dane simply could not cope with and beat her 6-4 6-2. Perhaps Wozniacki can learn how to add attacking shots to her arsenal like the Ukranian rising star. She may need them to win titles this year.

Elina Svitolina

Svitolina was in stunning form at the start of 2017. She beat World No.1 Angelique Kerber on her way to the Brisbane semi-final, then won back-to-back titles in Taipei City and Dubai. The latter was the first Premier title of her career, and she beat Kerber (again) and Wozniacki en route.

The Ukranian suffered a dip in form in March, losing to Muguruza in Indian Wells and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in Miami. But Svitolina should be confident going into the clay court season as she has recorded some good results on the surface in previous years. In 2012, she won an ITF title in Tunisia aged just 17. Then, in 2015, she won a WTA tour title in Marrakech before reaching the quarter-final of the French Open – her best Grand Slam performance to date. She backed it up by reaching the fourth-round at Roland Garros in 2016.

Svitolina has developed her game impressively, adding attacking shots to her repertoire and picking the right moments in matches to be more aggressive. This helps her to beat stubborn opponents like Wozniacki and enables her to save energy for tougher tests later on in tournaments. The Ukranian’s addition of more offensive weapons to her arsenal, when combined with her naturally strong defense and movement, could make her a formidable force during the clay season.