World number 48 and the top seed Sloane Stephens will take on Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova in the first round of the 2021 WTA Monterrey on Tuesday, March 16. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Sloane Stephens v Kristina Kucova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Sloane Stephens v Kristina Kucova Head to Head
While they have never faced off at the highest level, Stephens and Kucova did meet on the ITF circuit about 11 years ago. Stephens had beaten Kucova in that first round match on clay.
Also Read:
Stephens’ Won One Set This Season
It’s been a dramatic fall from her career-best ranking of world number three. While Stephens is still in the top 50 of the rankings, one of the biggest reasons why she hasn’t crashed in an even worse manner has been thanks to the tweaked WTA ranking system but unless she can find a few successive wins under her belt, Stephens has a problem on her hand.
Stephens’ form wasn’t the best even in 2020, with only a third round appearance at the US Open being something to beckon. Since that run, however, Stephens has played seven matches and lost six of them including three successive matches to kick-start the 2021 season.
The American was sent packing in the first round of the Grampians Trophy by Leylah Fernandez, winning only four games in that match, to kick-start the season. She then blew a set lead against Yulia Putintseva at the Australian Open and finished her Aussie leg of the season with a bruising 6-2, 6-2 loss at the hands of Varvara Gracheva in the first round of the Phillip Island Trophy.
What Stephens desperately needs is for a win to get things started for the season but more vitally she would hope for that to follow with a deep run in a tournament or two.
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Kucova Struggling to Get Going
The 2019 French Open was the last time Kucova won a main draw match in a WTA competition as she reached the second round of the tournament. Since then, the Slovakian hasn’t won any, and has even begun to struggle on the lower circuits with just one ITF title to boot over the last 27 months.
Kucova’s record this season has been quite poor as well.
She started off with a first round loss in the Australian Open qualifiers, then made the second round of an ITF tournament in Rome, before losing in the qualifiers of the WTA Guadalajara Open as well.
Kucova might not have even qualified for this tournament main draw had it not been for a few withdrawals, having lost in the second qualifying round to Lesia Tsurenko. Now in the first round as a lucky loser, she faces the top seed in her opener but one who has been struggling to get going.
Can Kucova make it tougher for Stephens?
Stephens v Kucova Prediction and Tip
Interesting to note that despite the parity in the rankings, Stephens is a mere 4/9 to win this and that’s to do with the free-fall she is in right now. We still back the American to carve out a win here.
Tip: Stephens to win: 4/9 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Monterrey Open will be played from March 14-21. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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