Donna Vekic of Croatia, currently ranked 24th in the world, will play formerly top ranked player, and now world number 58 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the first round of the Western & Southern Open 2020 on Saturday, August 22. This match is scheduled to begin at 3 pm local time (8 pm BST). Get the live streaming options of this Donna Vekic v Victoria Azarenka match along with its preview, head to head and tips here.
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Donna Vekic v Victoria Azarenka Head to Head
The pair have met twice before, and Vekic has won on each occasion in straight sets. Their first match was in San Jose in 2018, and their second in this same tournament last year.
Also Read:
Vekic Needs to Rediscover Consistency
Vekic is currently the second ranked Croatian player behind Petra Martic.
The 24-year-old has won two WTA career titles, in Malaysia in 2014 and again in Nottingham three years later, and has appeared in six more finals, including two last year – St. Petersburg where she was beaten by Kiki Bertens, and Nottingham, where Caroline Garcia defeated her. She also has five ITF titles to her name and prefers to play on hard courts.
In terms of Grand Slams, her best ever performance came in the US Open last year when she reached the quarter-finals, and she will be happy to be back playing at the same venue again.
She was in indifferent form prior to the pandemic lockdown. She was beaten in the second round in Adelaide, and then suffered a surprise defeat to Iga Swiatek of Poland in Melbourne. Vekic did make the second round in St. Petersburg,but crashed out at the first-round stage in Doha, Swiatek again her conqueror.
In her first event since lockdown in Palermo, she beat Arantxa Rus in the first round, but then slipped to a shock defeat at the hands of Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy, the world 144.
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Azarenka’s Heyday Behind Her?
A former world number one and twice winner of the Australian Open, Azarenka has 20 WTA tour titles to her name, but one has to go back to 2016 for the last of those, when she completed the “Sunshine Double” in Indian Wells and Miami.
Her only final since came last year came in Monterrey where she was forced to retire from her match with Garbine Muguruza.
Since those glory days, injury and well-documented personal problems off the court have restricted the amount of tennis she has been able to play, and, at 31, her best days are probably behind her.
She did not take part on Melbourne this year, and the one event she did play before the suspension of tennis saw her lose to Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia in the first round in Monterrey.
Since then she lost both her exhibition games in the Credit One Bank series and was beaten in the first round by Venus Williams in Lexington last week.
Donna Vekic v Victoria Azarenka Prediction & Tip
It is hard to see anything but a Vekic win in this match because, although she has not been in the best of form this year, she is still playing better than Azarenka who has yet to win a competitive match in 2020.
Tip: Vekic to win in straight sets: 7/10 (bet365)
You can watch & bet on the Cincinnati Open on Saturday, August 22 here. Get the latest tennis predictions and tips here.
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