The second round of the 2019 French Open is set to be an all Ukrainian affair with Elina Svitolina going head to head with Kateryna Kozlova. The duo will meet on Wednesday, May 29, at 11:00 am local time (10:00 am BST). Get Kateryna Kozlova v Elina Svitolina live streaming options and the preview here.
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Elina Svitolina v Kateryna Kozlova Head to Head
This the first meeting between the two players since the 2013 WTA Donetsk. Not so surprisingly, Svitolina won that match in straight sets.
Svitolina Sends out a Strong Message
Svitolina, who has been awarded the number 9 seed in Paris, arrived for the tournament on the back of injury concerns and a rather shaky form. She had been battling a knee injury for quite some time now but despite that, she delivered good results on the hard courts.
The current WTA Finals champion took time to recover after the Miami Open and returned to tour in Madrid, in a bid to prepare for the Roland Garros. But then, she lost early in Madrid and in Rome as well, casting big doubts over her chances in Paris.
In the opening round, she faced a strong opponent – former World No. 1 Venus Williams, and dispatched her 6-3, 6-3, in a highly vivacious performance. Svitolina converted seven break points and kept her unforced errors count at 15, in contrast to Williams’ 34.
That was a positive performance by Svitolina and she will be hoping to continue the same against Kozlova.
Kozlova in With a Clinical Win
Kateryna Kozlova, ranked 67th at the moment, started well with a 6-2, 7-6(5) win over the American qualifier Bernarda Pera. It was a close match for Kozlova but Pera’s 43 unforced errors made things convenient for the Ukrainian.
Kozlova has spent most of this season playing as a qualifier, except for the Grand Slams. Her best run came in Budapest, where she reached the quarterfinal. Apart from that, she has mostly lost in the early rounds.
Things didn’t change much for her on clay either – she made it past the qualifiers into the main draw, only to lose in the early matches. However, in Madrid, she started as a qualifier and defeated Shuai Zhang and Karolina Pliskova to reach the third round.
There, she was knocked out by Belinda Bencic.
Svitolina v Kozlova Predictions & Tips
This is going to be an interesting affair to follow for several reasons. One – Svitolina isn’t as sharp as she was at one point in time. Given her shaky form and Kozlova’s newly-found rhythm, she can certainly pose some problems to her highly-ranked compatriot.
Secondly, we have already seen a few massive upsets in the tournament, all of which were related to out-of-form, injury-battling players. Will Svitolina join that list? Find out tomorrow.
Tip: Under 19.5 games in the match: 21/20 (888Sport)
The Svitolina v Kozlova match can be watched live with Unibet here on May 29, 2019. Also, get the latest tennis tips and predictions here.
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