Will the world number 35 Zhang Shuai put it across the former world number two, Vera Zvonareva in their second round match at the 2021 WTA Yarra Valley Classic? This match takes on on Tuesday, February 2, most likely to begin at around 2:30 pm local time (8:30 am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Zhang Shuai v Vera Zvonareva match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Zhang Shuai v Vera Zvonareva Head to Head
Their only previous meeting came at the 2015 Pattaya Open where Zvonareva overcame Shuai in straight sets to move into the quarterfinals.
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Shuai Kick-Starts New Season
For a kind of player whose best results have often come on hard court surfaces and that includes 24 of her 25 titles at WTA and ITF level, Shuai’s top performances post the pandemic break in 2020 came on clay. This included a quarterfinal at the Strasbourg Open and then a fourth round appearance at the French Open.
This is not to say she didn’t do well on hard courts, because Shuai began the previous season with a final at the Hobart International where she fell to Elena Rybakina in the title-decider. First round defeats at the Cincinnati Open, US Open and in Ostrava, however, wouldn’t have done her any favours as far as her confidence goes, and her ranking fell five places to 35th in the world.
The good news for Shuai is her consistency has never been in doubt, especially since 2016 when she went from being ranked 139th in the world to ending the season at her career-best of 23rd. Between then and now, her ranking has fluctuated between the best of 23rd and a worst of 52nd on the WTA charts – an indicator of how she has managed to find a way to carve out results.
Can she kick-start things in 2021 with a solid result as well?
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Zvonareva Edges Out Pliskova
The former world number two Zvonareva started out her first round match against Kristyna Pliskova as a favourite but was involved in a keen tussle that lasted three sets and nearly two hours.
A break of serve in the very first game of the match is all that Zvonareva needed to clinch the set, and the two players went hammer and tongs at each other without any success in the second set as far as further breaks of serves are concerned. In the tie-breaker, Pliskova proved to be a tougher nut to crack and racked off two successive mini-breaks at 5-4 to level the set.
Things looked to be headed into another tie-breaker in the final set when both players held their serves till 4-3 but while Pliskova saved four break-points on her serve in the next game, she was broken off the fifth and with it lost the match when Zvonareva served out for the match.
The Russian had earlier made it to the second round of the Abu Dhabi Open where she went down to Elina Svitolina.
Shuai v Zvonareva Prediction and Tip
Rather interestingly, Zvonareva is 4/11 to win this which is very short odds against a player who has done reasonably well over the past few years. Expecting Zhang to win a set at least.
Tip: Zhang to win a set – Yes: 5/6 (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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