Former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova will continue her campaign in the ongoing WTA St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy; to face the 21-year-old Daria Kasatkina in the second round.
Watch & bet on Maria Sharapova v Daria Kasatkina with bet365 here* on Wednesday, January 30. The Sharapova v Kasatkina match timings will be announced soon.
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Sharapova Starts Off Strong
The Russian star is heading into this fixture on the back of a 6-0, 6-4 victory against Daria Gavrilova in the first round. The match lasted for an hour and 48 minutes and saw Sharapova save eight out of nine break points to progress.
She has started her season on a rather average note and will be looking forward to taking it up a notch in St. Petersburg. Sharapova hasn’t won a singles title since the 2017 Tianjin Open and so far in 2019, she is yet to make it past the fourth round.
Her time in Melbourne was along the similar lines. After starting with a double bagel against Harriet Dart in the first round, she managed to reach the round of 16, where she was knocked out was Ashleigh Barty. Throughout these matches, she continued to make plenty of unforced errors – a mistake that proved to be costly against Barty.
Kasatkina’s Mundane Start to the Season
Kasatkina, who is currently the Russian No. 1, has witnessed a sharp drop in her form since the start of the year. Up until now, she has played in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. In all the three tournaments, she lost in the first round.
However, in many ways, this is like a deja vu for Kasatkina Last season too, she had a disappointing run in Australian but followed it with a semifinal run at the WTA St. Petersburg. She also reached the final in Dubai and Indian Wells and later won the Kremlin Cup.
In terms of wins and form, Kasatkina was superior in comparison to Sharapova in every aspect possible. However, she still lacks the experience – a factor that may prove to be crucial in this upcoming fixture.
Sharapova v Kasatkina – Head to Head
The two players have met only once on the tour and Sharapova leads 1-0. They met in Montreal as recent as last year, with Sharapova winning the match in three sets.
Sharapova v Kasatkina – Who Will Win?
Sharapova is considerably more experienced than Kasatkina and has the necessary momentum to reach the next round. At the same time, the Russian had a similar spell in the same period last year. That time around, she knocked out Caroline Wozniacki in the same competition. This will be an interesting match that can very well go either way.
You can watch & bet on Maria Sharapova v Daria Kasatkina here on Wednesday, January 30.
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