The Baseline Top 5: Women to put on Slam Watch in 2019

The 2018 women's-tennis season saw the solidification of several top players' resumes. Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep finally captured their first Grand Slams, Angelique Kerber returned to Top 3 by winning Wimbledon, and Serena Williams proved she's not done yet by making two major finals.

Still, there's an entire pack of other players chasing those stars for a spot in tennis' pantheon. Here are five women to put on Slam Watch in 2019:

1

Much like Alexander Zverev, Svitolina has won tournaments at just about every non-Grand Slam level, including the WTA Finals. The world No. 4 played in nine finals in the past two years and won them all, notably beating No. 1 Halep 6-0, 6-4 in Rome to win her fourth Premier 5 title. With this much big-match experience at age 24, Svitolina winning a Slam seems like only a matter of time.

2

While Osaka certainly already broke through in 2018—she won both Indian Wells and the US Open to finish the year the world No. 5—the last season still left a few questions unanswered. For one: How will she respond to the pressure of so quickly becoming one of tennis' biggest names? Making the final in Tokyo and semis in Beijing was a solid start, but she'll be under an entirely new microscope come Melbourne, and she'll definitely be a player to watch there.

3

With her famed "Russian Wall" performance in Moscow, Kasatkina put an exclamation point on her breakthrough season last October by winning the Kremlin Cup for her second WTA title. That result allowed her to crack the Top 10, where at 21, she's the second-youngest player, behind only Osaka. In Indian Wells in March, Kasatkina put away Sloane Stephens, Wozniacki, Kerber and Venus Williams to make the biggest final of her career.

Osaka, after winning that match, said, "I'm pretty sure we're gonna play a lot of finals and stuff later."

4

Just 20 years old and now ranked No. 13 in the world, Sabalenka became a force to reckoned with at the tail end of the 2018 season. She won her maiden title at the Connecticut Open and she was the only player to win a set off Osaka at the US Open. She then made her second tournament win a big one at the Premier 5 in Wuhan, China. If that kind of momentum can be sustained, the sky is the limit for Sabalenka in 2019.

5

Despite experiencing injury setbacks in 2018, Keys went 16-4 at the Slams, making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and semifinals at both Roland Garros and the US Open. At 23, she's been knocking on the door of winning a major for years now, having made the quarters, semis or final on six different occasions. Maybe 2019 could be the year she breaks it down.