Two players ranked outside the top 100, Tsvetana Pironkova and Ludmilla Samsonova will go head to head in the first round of the 2021 WTA Yarra Valley Classic on Sunday, January 31, with the match likely to begin at around 2:30 pm local time. Get the live streaming options of this Tsvetana Pironkova v Ludmilla Samsonova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Tsvetana Pironkova v Ludmilla Samsonova Head to Head
This will be their second meeting overall and second in as many seasons with Pironkova having beaten Ludmilla the first time they met at the US Open last season.
Also Read:
Pironkova in a Rematch with Maiden Opponent on Return
Not too many had given Pironkova a chance when she returned to the sport in 2020 after a hiatus of nearly three years. Facing her in Pironkova’s first round match was the same opponent she starts off her 2021 campaign with and when Pironkova came away with a straight-set win there despite having gone in at odds of 6/1, she had managed to turn a few heads.
Bigger results were to soon follow Pironkova.
In the second round at that tournament, Pironkova then routed Garbine Muguruza in another upset, before sending Donna Vekic and Alize Cornet packing to reach the quarterfinal. And facing Serena Williams in that match, she managed to grab the first set against the 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Willams before finally caving in and losing in three.
Pironkova featured in only one other tournament, reaching the third round at the French Open where she lost to Barbora Krejcikova but by then she had improved her ranking from 472nd in the world to closer to a top 100.
A couple of wins here should help her break the 100-rank barrier, thereby allowing her direct qualification at Grand Slams. Not that it matter too much for Pironkova who won three back to back matches at the Australian Open qualifiers to make it to the main draw earlier this month.
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Samsonova Coming off Australian Open Qualification Too
Much like her opponent, Samsonova is also ranked outside the top 100 – just nine spots above Pironkova on the charts. As a result, she needed to go through the qualifiers at the Australian Open as well and made it through with three wins to enter the main draw.
That comes on the back of a reasonable year for Samsonova in 2020, where she made it to the Palermo Open main draw via the qualifiers before losing in the second round and finished the season on a high with a final appearance in an ITF event. A second round at the Brisbane International and a first round loss at the Australian Open 2020, both as a qualifier were her other top results from the heavily curtailed 2020 season.
With four tournament finals on hard court surfaces at the ITF level, Ludmilla has often looked like she is one breakthrough performance away from pushing on, on the WTA charts. Question is if she can make it happen sooner than later.
Pironkova v Samsonova Prediction and Tip
Pironkova starts off a favourite, 4/7 to win this and despite Samsonova’s strong fighting capabilities we will have to go with those odds.
Tip: Pironkova to win: 4/7 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Yarra Valley Classic will be played from January 31. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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