World number one Ash Barty will finally feature in her first match in nearly 11 months when she takes on Romania’s Ana Bogdan in the second round of the 2021 WTA Yarra Valley Classic on Monday, February 1. The match-timings will be released soon. Get the live streaming options of this Ash Barty v Ana Bogdan match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Ash Barty v Ana Bogdan Head to Head
Barty and Bogdan haven’t played each other before this.
Also Read:
Barty Finally Makes it Back to the Tour
It was a difficult year for most but among sportspeople, Australian tennis players had it really tough given the difficulties in inter-state travel till very late into the pandemic. In fact, as recently as earlier in January this year, it hasn’t been the easiest to do that, which is why when Barty opted to abandon the second part of the season in 2020, it didn’t come out as a big surprise.
What that means is when Barty took to the court in Adelaide for her exhibition match against Simona Halep earlier this week, it was the first time she was playing a competitive match of any nature since her semifinal defeat to Petra Kvitova at the WTA Doha in February last year.
Earlier in the season, Barty was a semifinalist at the Australian Open, before Sofia Kenin got the better of her, having won the Adelaide International title just before that.
Incidentally, Barty went down to Halep in that exhibition tournament, losing a final set tie-breaker 10-8 but would have been pleased with that outing against a top opponent. There could well be some butterflies coming into this opening encounter in Melbourne but expect Barty to come out all guns blazing once she has overcome the early nerves.
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Bogdan Starts off With a Win
After the kind of season Bogdan had in 2020, it would have come as no surprise that the 93rd-ranked Romanian went into her opening round match against Kamilla Rakhimova, who is 156th in the world at similar odds – 5/6 for a Bogdan win to 10/11 for Rakhimova to notch up a victory.
Which is why when Bogdan clinched a facile 6-2, 6-2 win over her Russian opponent, it would have been equal parts relieving and stunning.
Last year, Bogdan struggled to qualify for the main draws of multiple events, losing in the qualifiers of four of those. And when she did make it to the main draw, she lost three of the five matches she played in, before calling it quits for the season following the qualifying defeat at the Ostrava Open.
Bogdan now faces a tough opponent but one who has been out of tennis for a while and that could give her some hope going into this encounter.
Barty v Bogdan Prediction and Tip
On paper, Barty should have no problems but for the rustiness she could herself face here. Expecting Bogdan to eke out an early push before Barty comes into her own.
Tip: Over 19.5 games in the match: 5/6 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Yarra Valley Classic 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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