The first round matches at the 2020 WTA Dubai Open will continue on Tuesday, February 18 with Petra Martic and Kristina Mladenovic among those in action. All the information around those matches can be found below with the latest Petra Martic v Su-wei Hsieh and Anett Kontaveit v Sorana Cirstea tips, previews and live streams below among other matches.
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Petra Martic v Su-wei Hsieh Predictions & Preview
The 15th-ranked Petra Martic will be up against the lucky loser Su-Wei Hsieh in their first round encounter and also in what will be their fourth meeting. Hsieh is 2-1 up on head to head but it must be quickly added the last time they faced off was in 2015 at the Wimbledon and Hsieh had won in straight sets. Since then they haven’t met at the highest level.
Martic, who hasn’t had the best of starts to the season, will be hoping to get underway quickly here and garner some momentum heading into the rest of the tournament.
A second round loss at the Auckland Open, another second round defeat at Australian Open but more vitally a shock opening loss at the Hua Hin Championships last week to the 128th-ranked Xiyu Wang would have made it tougher for Martic though and gives Hsieh bit of a look-in.
Hsieh herself kick-started the season with three back to back defeats at Brisbane, Adelaide and Australian Open but to be fair to her, she didn’t have the greatest of draws. Now, she has got some fortune going, qualifying for the tournament despite losing in her third qualifying round. She can be expected to push Martic here as a result.
Tip: Games Handicap Hsieh+2.5: 5/6 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
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Anett Kontaveit v Sorana Cirstea Predictions & Preview
24th-ranked Anett Kontaveit will feature in her opener against 70th-ranked qualifier Sorana Cirstea at Dubai. This will be their second meeting with Kontaveit having won their first but way back in 2016 and at the lower, ITF circuit. Shouldn’t count for a lot.
What might count is Kontaveit’s form. After a slow start to the season where she bowed out of the Brisbane International in the second round and then was knocked out in the first at Adelaide, Kontaveit looks to have regained her momentum.
At the Australian Open, Kontaveit reached the quarterfinal against all odds, beating Belinda Bencic in the third round in the process and knocking out promising youngster Iga Swiatek as well. She was then sent packing by Simona Halep. Later, Kontaveit was involved in four Fed Cup singles matches and won all of them, including a three-set win over Elina Svitolina.
Cirstea’s only main draw win this season came at the Australian Open where she defeated Barbora Strycova but other than that it’s been bit of a struggle for the former world number 21 from Romania. Should not be too much of a problem for Kontaveit.
Tip: Kontaveit to win in three sets : 11/4 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
Karolina Muchova v Katerina Siniakova Predictions & Preview
27th-ranked Karolina Muchova will kick-start the proceedings in Dubai on Tuesday when she takes on Siniakova in their first round match. And for the two 23-year-olds, this will be their first meeting.
Muchova, who won her maiden WTA title last year at Seoul, has featured in only three matches so far this season. She was sent packing in the first round of the Brisbane International and then went down in the second round at the Australian Open to Cici Bellis, who was herself returning from a long-term injury.
And then since that Australian Open defeat, Muchova hasn’t been in action.
Siniakova’s season has had a worse start. As if first round exits at the Shenzhen Open, Australian Open and St. Petersburg Open weren’t bad enough, she is yet to win a set and over the six sets she has lost, she has won just 16 games.
She did have a decent, three victories in the qualifying rounds including one over Alison van Uytvanck but this is where her Dubai campaign can be expected to end.
Tip: Muchova to win: 4/7 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
Kristina Mladenovic v Aliaksandra Sasnovich Predictions & Preview
Kristina Mladenovic is ranked 38th in the world while her opponent here Aliaksandra Sasnovich is 114th but the rivalry has been an interesting one. Six matches played, and Sasnovich has won four, and there have been three wins in a row in their previous three encounters.
It’s obviously been two years since they last played and the form has gone in different directions for both. Mladenovic, a known doubles specialist, was able to break into the top 10 of the singles once, while Sasnovich is a former top-30 player but one coming off a wretched 2019 season.
Lest we forget to add, both Mladenovic and Sasnovich needed to make it through to the main draw by going through the qualifiers, winning three matches apiece, but other than that things have been rather suspect. In fact, Mladenovic is yet to win a main draw match this season, and Sasnovich has won just one.
Tough one to call one for the bookmakers (both are 5/6 to win this according to bet365) and same for us. We will go with this to be a three-setter as a result.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 7/5 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)