Picking the winner of a women's Grand Slam event is never easy. The depth of women's tennis has improved over the last five or so years. In 2004 and 2005 we saw a different player win at each of the four majors and last year we saw three different players share the four crowns with Amelie Mauresmo winning in Australia and at Wimbledon.

With the absence of Justine Henin-Hardenne, the task of selecting the winner is even more difficult. You obviously have to give the US Open champion and top seed Maria Sharapova a good chance. She has reached the Melbourne semis the past two campaigns losing tight three-set matches on both occasions. Sharapova claims she is now fitter than ever and this will make the difference in 2007.

As defending champion, Mauresmo will also be a strong contender, but her effort in Sydney where she lost to eventual finalist Jelana Jankovic calls into question just how competitive she will be this year. If matches go according to seedings, Mauresmo will face a tough match against tenth seed Nicole Vaidisova who has beaten her in their last two meetings.

Other players to consider are 2004 finalist Kim Clijsters, former champion Serena Williams, crowd favourite Martina Hingis and my dark horse, Jankovic. Williams and Jankovic are in the same quarter as number five seed Nadia Petrova.

Earlier this week in Sydney, Petrova was forced to withdraw due to injury. I see her not being able to progress too far in Melbourne and this opens it up for either Jankovic or Williams, who could clash in the fourth round. From there, the winner may have a semi against Mauresmo or Vaidisova.

Jankovic has made it this far in a Grand Slam having lost in the semis at last year's US Open. On that occasion she was all over Justine Henin-Hardenne before what she thought was a bad line call made her lose concentration and resulted in her losing the final set 6-0.