World number 23 Elise Mertens will be up against the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round of the 2020 Palermo Open on Tuesday, August 4. It is expected to start off at around 4 pm local time (3 pm BST). You can find the live streaming options of this Elise Mertens v Aliaksandra Sasnovich match along with its preview, head to head and tips here.
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Elise Mertens v Aliaksandra Sasnovich Head to Head
Mertens and Sasnovich have played each other thrice already, once apiece over the past three years. Interestingly Sasnovich has won two of those matches, but Mertens finally defeated her opponent last year in Toronto. It took her three sets.
All these three encounters came on hard courts, which means this one on clay will be an interesting change from their regular match-ups.
Mertens Putting in the Consistent Shows
It’s been bit of a strange year for Mertens (and some might argue it’s been like that for most!). From a tennis point of view though, Mertens was 11-5 on win-loss before tennis went on a break but no standout performance.
There was a fourth round appearance at the Australian Open before she lost to Simona Halep, and a couple of quarterfinal appearances in Shenzhen and Hobart but to match that were Dubai and Doha second round losses too.
Mertens helped Belgium in the Fed Cup with two singles wins but what the Belgian would now want is somewhat of a repeat of her showings from 2017 and 2018 when she won 93 and lost just 47 of her matches. This led to four WTA titles including two on clay.
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Sasnovich Hunting for Resurrection
A former world number 30, Sasnovich has now fallen down the ladder over the past two seasons which have seen her rankings plummet to 119th. So much so, Sasnovich needed to win three qualifiers leading up to this opening round match to make it to the main draw.
In 2020 itself, Sasnovich was needed to go through the qualifying rounds to make the main draw in most of the tournaments. She got a direct entry at Shenzhen where she won a round and then again at the Australian Open where she was bumped out in the first round.
The Belarusian hasn’t won a single main draw match since January as a result.
Elise Mertens v Aliaksandra Sasnovich Prediction & Tip
With Sasnovich struggling in main draws of competition and not really a clay court specialist, this could turn out to be a tough one for her. Mertens is a far superior pedigreed player and should win this in straight sets.
Tip: Mertens to win in straight sets: 1/1 (bet365)
You can watch & bet on the WTA Palermo on Tuesday, August 4 here. Get the latest tennis predictions and tips here.
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