The first round of the 2019 WTA Kremlin Cup in Moscow will feature a mix of interesting matches on Tuesday, October 15. Get Dayana Yastremska v Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova preview, predictions, tips, and other statistics.
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Dayana Yastremska v Daria Kasatkina Predictions & Preview
This is the first meeting between two young players on the WTA Tour.
The 19-year-old Yastremska, who has been seeded number five for the tournament in Moscow, is looking to cap her career-best season with her third singles title of the year. She cracked the top 30 for the first time and put up a remarkable performance, showing clear signs that she has a bright future ahead of her.
With title runs in WTA Hua Hin and Strasbourg, she achieved a win-loss tally of 33-20 and cemented her position uniquely on the circuit. In the recent weeks, she also made it to the quarterfinal in Wuhan and WTA Tianjin, defeating the likes of Karolina Pliskova and Shuai Peng. It’s been a treat to see her play this way, especially considering that she started the year on a harrowing note with a series of early defeats.
As for Daria Kasatkina, the defending champion in the Kremlin Cup and another local favourite, has had a year to forget. On the back of a really slow start and a strike rate of 12-20, she fell out of the top 30. For the two-time finalist here in Moscow, it has been a season where she has spent most of her time dealing with early-round exits.
A significant exception to this took place a few weeks back in the China Open where she stormed into the quarterfinal, after defeating Aryna Sabalenka and Ekaterina Alexandrova. That was among her best performance of the season, undoubtedly.
For this match, Yastremska will start as the favourite to win but Kasatkina, being a two-time finalist, will have a certain edge here. It will be interesting to see if she young Russian can manage to deliver the same results once again, despite a poor showing on the whole.
Tip: Over 20.5 games in the match 3/4 with Unibet
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Maria Sakkari v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Predictions & Preview
Sakkari holds a 1-0 lead over her Russian adversary, last defeating Pavlyuchenkova in the 2019 Italian Open in straight sets.
The prolific Greek player is heading into this match after sitting out the entire Asian swing. In fact, her last tournament was the US Open where she reached as far as the third round before falling to Ashleigh Barty. Considering Sakkari’s performance on the whole this season, she has been fairly impressive although, given her skill set, she has the potential to move up further in the rankings.
The winner of WTA Rabat, a semifinalist in San Jose and the quarter-finalist in Cincinnati, the number seven seed registered a bunch of top 10 wins over the likes of Kiki Bertens, Petra Kvitova, Elina Svitolina, and Aryna Sabalenka. Currently ranked World No. 29, we can certainly expect her to move up in the rankings.
Pavlyuchenkova, on the other hand, hasn’t had this impressive of a season. At 19-21, she has had her struggles with form and consistency although, that may be about to change in her home tournament in Moscow. Among her highlights include a quarterfinal run in the Australian Open and the runner-up feat in WTA Osaka, where she knocked out Kiki Bertens and Angelique Kerber.
Apart from these, she has lost primarily in the early rounds. Most recently, she played in the WTA Linz where she fell to Viktoria Kuzmova in the second round. For this fixture, we can expect her to face a great deal of resistance from Sakkari with an outcome that can very well go either way.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/4 with Unibet
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