Second seeded Elise Mertens will face tour veteran Vera Zvonareva in the second round of the 2020 Linz Open on Thursday, November 12 with the match expected to begin at around 8 pm local time (8 pm BST or 3 pm Eastern Time). Below you can find live streaming options of this Elise Mertens v Vera Zvonareva match along with its preview, head to head, and tips.
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Elise Mertens v Vera Zvonareva Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between Mertens and Zvonareva.
Also Read:
Mertens Eases After Shock Set Loss
One of the common themes in recent times with Mertens has been the ease with which she has dispatched early opponents and then lost later in tournaments to players of high pedigree. Which is why going up against the 163rd-ranked qualifier Anhelina Kalinina, Mertens was expected to steamroll her opponent in double-quick time.
That’s not how her first round match went though. Not to begin with at least.
Down a break in the very first game of the opening set, she then proceeded to lose her serve yet again in the seventh before her opponent served it out to clinch the set.
Stunned and probably stung, Mertens rallied to break Kalinina in the very first game and while she dropped serve soon after, she broke her opponent two more times to level the proceedings.
The third set was a cagier affair with both players fighting to hold serves before Mertens got the upper hand in the fifth game. She doubled her advantage to take a 5-2 lead and then served it out to win the match.
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Confident Zvonareva Takes Down Teenager
18-year-old Marta Kostyuk was a heavy favourite coming into this match against Zvonareva, but the manner in which the veteran Russian took down her opponent was worth the place in second round.
The first set was all over the place, with both players getting themselves a couple of breaks apiece in the first eight games of the set. A longish ninth game allowed Zvonareva to break Kostyuk for the third time before she served it out.
If the youngster thought this was an aberration it turned out to be even worse for her in the second set when she was broken in the very first game. This time around, however, there was no respite from Zvonareva who continued to hold on to her serve, and then broke Kostyuk for the second time to go 5-2 up before serving out the match.
This win comes on the back of a solid showing from Zvonareva at the ITF tournament in Istanbul late last month in which she made the finals indoors. Can she now push the world number 21 too?
Mertens v Zvonareva Prediction And Tip
While Mertens is 2/5 to win this, the bigger question here is if she can shrug off her first round blip and win this in straight sets. We think she has the game to do that and pass this test from the veteran.
Tip: Mertens to win in straight sets: 10/11 (bet365)
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The 2020 Sofia Open will be played from November 9 to November 15. You can watch & bet on the Sofia Masters here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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