World number two Simona Halep will be up against Russian Anastasia Potapova in the second round of the 2021 WTA Gippsland Trophy with the match expected to be played on Monday, January 1. The match timings will be revealed soon. Get the live streaming options of this Simona Halep v Anastasia Potapova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Simona Halep v Anastasia Potapova Head to Head
This will be the first match between these two players at any level.
Also Read:
Halep Edges Out Barty in Exhibition
It was a decent workout for Halep when she took on Ash Barty in an exhibition match in Adelaide earlier this week. The Romanian overcame the loss of the first set to take the encounter in a final set tie-breaker, 10-8 but more importantly got herself a decent workout heading into the more important bit.
With a first round bye to her name, the world number two will hope to kick-start her season with the kind of confidence which was on display last year. Sure, Halep didn’t win any Grand Slams but three titles from the six competitions she participated in meant she managed to finish the season with a 23-3 win-loss record.
Halep also made the semifinal at the Australian Open before losing to Garbine Muguruza in a match which could have gone either way. She followed it up with a title win at the WTA Dubai, played no exhibition tournaments during the break for the pandemic and returned to tennis with another title win in Prague – it was as if she was never away from the sport.
While Halep stuttered badly in the fourth round of the French Open against the eventual winner Iga Swiatek, she had done enough to propel herself as one of the favourites to go the distance in some of these early tournaments in 2021.
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Potapova Pulls off Easy Opening Win
It was expected to be a slightly tighter contest than it turned out to be with Russian Potapova coming through in her first round match against American teenager Whitney Osuigwe without too much sweat dispensed.
The match saw a whopping six breaks of serve in the first set, with the players starting off with an exchange of breaks before Potapova took control and broke twice to lead 5-2. Her opponent broke back once only to drop serve again and lose the set.
And once Potapova had that under control, she rammed home the advantage with three successive breaks of serve to clinch a 6-3, 6-0 win in her opening round match.
The Russian would be rather pleased with this performance and that’s not just because of the result but having not played the entire of the post-pandemic-break last year, she had earlier lost in the first round at Abu Dhabi as well. This win should bolster some of her confidence but coming up against Halep could dispel some of it.
Halep v Potapova Prediction and Tip
Halep would be the favourite to come through in straight sets here with Potapova’s confidence allowing to remain in the match for only so long.
Tip: Halep to win in straight sets: 1/2 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne will be played from January 31. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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