Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, the number five seed, will play Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the final of the WTA Shenzen Open on Saturday, 11th January. The match is scheduled for 1 pm local time (5 am BST) and you can find the Ekaterina Alexandrova v Elena Rybakina live streaming options along with its preview, head to head and tips here.
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Ekaterina Alexandrova v Elena Rybakina Head to Head
The pair have played never played each other before. This is the first meeting between the two women, separated by just two places in the world rankings.
Alexandrova, Now the Russian Number One
25-year-old Alexandrova, who has won 3 titles on the junior women’s 125k finals circuit, most recently at Limoges in December, is now the highest ranked Russian player in the WTA rankings.
This will be her second final on the senior WTA tour – she was beaten in the Linz Open by Italian Camila Giorgi two years ago.
To get to this stage she had straight sets wins over Katerina Siniakova and Peng Shuai, then beat local player, fourth seed Wang Qiang, to reach the last four. There she produced a strong display to beat the two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza in straight sets.
In the event it was the power of the Russian’s groundstrokes which proved too much for the Spaniard to cope with on the day, and she was broken twice in each set. Having lost the first five games of the second set, Muguruza appeared ready to fold, but she fought back before succumbing to the inevitable defeat.
Rybakina’s Third Final In Six Months
Rybakina, five years younger than Alexandrova, is in her third final in six months. She won her maiden WTA title in Bucharest in July, defeating home favourite Patricia Maria Tig, but, two months later in the Jiangxi Open in China, she lost to the Swede Rebecca Peterson.
Her run to the final here has not been smooth – she was fully tested by Zheng Saisai in her opening match, and had a real struggle to defeat the number three seed, Elise Mertens of Belgium, in her quarter-final.
However, her semi-final was a much more comfortable affair, a straight sets win over the Czech player Krystyna Pliskova – twin sister of Karolina – in just 72 minutes. She won 80% of her first serve points, did not drop her own serve once, and converted three out of the six break points she earned.
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Elena Rybakina Predictions & Tips
There is very little to choose between these two surprise finalists, but bookmakers make Alexandrova favourite because she is the slightly higher ranked player. Despite this, Rybakina has more experience of playing in senior finals, and that may just tip the match in her favour.
Tip: Rybakina to win in three sets: 3/1 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)
You can watch & bet on Alexandrova v Rybakina on Saturday, January 11th here. . Get the latest tennis predictions and tips here.
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