MELBOURNE – Majors are what matters at this stage for Serena Williams. After agreeing Friday to the notion that she could consider her next Grand Slam title to be her favorite, she withdrew from a scheduled semifinal match against top-ranked Ash Barty in a tuneup event — citing an injured right shoulder — not long after the draw for the Australian Open was made.
For her latest bid to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, Williams was drawn in the same quarter as second-ranked Simona Halep and the same half as No.
3 Naomi Osaka, the U.S. Open champion. Osaka will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round and has major champions Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Venus Williams and Bianca Andreescu in