World number 18 Stan Wawrinka will look to shrug off a bout of coronavirus as he kicks off a new season with a second round match against Mikhail Kukushkin in the 2021 ATP Murray River Open on Wednesday, February 3, with the match likely to begin at around 2:30 pm local time (8:30 am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Stan Wawrinka v Mikhail Kukushkin match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Stan Wawrinka v Mikhail Kukushkin Head to Head
This is an old rivalry which saw these two players face off four times before this but all of those matches came between 2010 and 2014. Two of them came in the Davis Cup, where it is 1-1 while the other two matches were at the 2010 US Open, which Wawrinka won and 2014 Basel Indoors, where Kukushkin managed to emerge victorious.
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Wawrinka Coming off a Mixed Season
It wasn’t the best of seasons for most players, 2020, but interestingly enough, Wawrinka was one of those few top players who opted to feature in a couple of Challenger tournaments on clay in the lead-up to the French Open.
Having opted out of the US Open, Wawrinka won one of those Challengers, but was then knocked out at Roland Garros in the third round by Hugo Gaston. A quarterfinal at the St. Petersburg Open and another last eight appearance at the Paris Masters meant he was there or thereabouts as far as rhythm but didn’t last long enough to add to his list ATP titles.
Earlier in the season, Wawrinka had made it to the quarterfinal at the Australian Open before his game was taken apart by Alexander Zverev.
Wawrinka enters the new season having struggled through a bout of coronavirus, which in his own words has affected how he trained during the off-season. In an interview with the Financial Review, Wawrinka admitted he is still trying to get into shape for the new season which means coming into his first match of the year, he could be a tad jittery to kick things off.
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Kukushkin Digs Deep in Opening Win
Unlike Wawrinka, Kukukshkin will be safe in the knowledge he has had some tennis under his belt coming into this second round match in Melbourne. Because unlike Wawrinka he didn’t have a first round bye and as far as competitive matches go, Kukushkin was involved in a toughie.
In a match lasting two hours and 18 minutes, Kukushkin overcame the early loss of serve in the first set to register a comeback win. He edged out Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero in three sets, winning 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to progress further.
Kukushkin was broken in the very first game of the opening set, a break he couldn’t get back, which allowed Londero to romp home to a set win. The world number 90 then got himself an early break in the second set only to drop serve at 5-3.
A couple of holds later, Kukushkin broke his opponent yet again to level the match.
The third set proved to be a bit of a breeze for the Kazakh, who went 3-0 up with a break in the second game and then finished off the last rites by breaking Londero again when he served to stay in the encounter at 2-5.
Wawrinka v Kukushkin Prediction and Tip
While Wawrinka is 3/10 to win this, we expect a far bigger fight than those odds suggests with Kukushkin having a decent chance of winning a set or more.
Tip: Kukushkin to win a set – Yes: 1/1 (bet365)
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The 2021 ATP Murray River Open will be played from February 1. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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