World number nine Petra Kvitova will be up against American legend Venus Williams in the second round of the 2021 WTA Yarra Valley Classic on Tuesday, February 2, with the match likely to begin at around 2:30 pm local time (8:30 am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Petra Kvitova v Venus Williams match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Petra Kvitova v Venus Williams Head to Head
There have been seven previous matches played between Kvitova and Venus with the Czech player leading her opponent 4-3. Six of these have come on hard court surfaces, where it is 3-3 while in the seventh match, on the grass of Wimbledon Kvitova had scraped past her opponent.
Their last meeting was at the 2019 Indian Wells Open where Venus won in three sets.
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Kvitova Kick-Starts New Season with a Tricky Opponent
The last tie Kvitova didn’t win a WTA title before 2020 was in 2010 – a decade earlier. Now while the curtailed season could be to blame, Kvitova did participate in as many tournaments as she possibly could given the circumstances but failed to convert her starts into something of a title.
Make no mistake though, Kvitova showed enough class on court, and made it to three semifinals, and one of them resulted in a final at the Doha Open where she fell to Aryna Sabalenka. The semifinals came in Brisbane early in the season and then at the French Open, which was the last tournament she played for the year.
In between there was a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open and a fourth round at the US Open – pointing to Kvitova still continuing to remain a solid and tricky opponent. It’s just a matter of shrugging off that rustiness and a title might not be too far away – aiming for her first on hard courts since January 2019, which had also incidentally come in Australia.
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Venus Rampages Past Rus
Given Venus Williams’ results all of the past two seasons, it did not come as a huge surprise when she started a second favourite in her opening round match against Arantxa Rus. What did come up as a surprise is the ease in which she raced past her opponent in that opener.
Venus completed a 6-1, 6-3 rout of Rus, needing a mere hour and five minutes to complete the victory – which meant it was only her second win on the circuit since she won a match at the Lexington Open in August 2020.
The American was off the blocks rather quickly when she broke Rus twice in the first four games, staved off a few break points of her own before wrapping up the set. The second was more of a fight but even there, Venus won a break of serve in the third game and then again when Rus looked to serve to stay in the match at 5-3.
Kvitova will be a huge step up for Venus but the one factor to watch out would be the rustiness.
Kvitova v Venus Prediction and Tip
Kvitova starts off at 3/10 and we are backing her to win this albeit not as comfortably as the odds represent. Look at the games handicap for this one.
Tip: Games Handicap Venus +4.5 Games: 8/11 (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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