World number 12 Belinda Bencic will be up against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in second round of the 2021 WTA Gippsland Trophy on Thursday, February 4, with the match likely to begin at around 2:30 pm local time (4 am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Belinda Bencic v Sorana Cirstea match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Belinda Bencic v Sorana Cirstea Head to Head
There have been no previous meetings at a competitive level of tennis between these two players.
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Fitness concerns and Covid-19 related issues meant that Bencic played only one WTA match after the pandemic-induced break was over in August. It came at the Italian Open, where in the second round she crashed out to Danka Kovinic.
Following that she was forced to withdraw from the French Open and the rest of the season because of a right arm injury.
Bencic had earlier also missed the US Open swing because of her reluctance to travel amidst the peak of the pandemic which means since August 2020, this would be just her second match. The Swiss, who had earlier pushed on to the quarterfinal at both, the Adelaide International and WTA Doha, and made the third round at the Australian Open will hope for a much smoother ride this season.
The world number 12 kick-starts her year with a second round encounter against a player ranked 72nd in the world following an opening round bye.
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Cirstea Bulldozes Kalashnikova
Having barely played any tennis over the last four seasons, Olga Kalashnikova wasn’t tipped to cause any issues for Cirstea, and the match lived up to that one-sided prediction.
Cirstea needed just 46 minutes to crush her Georgian opponent’s hopes, winning 6-1, 6-1 to proceed into the second round. Two games into the match it didn’t look like the match would end up in that direction when Cirstea needed to save multiple break-points while her opponent held with ease but once that was out of the way, the Romanian won nine games in a row to end the contest.
Kalashnikova claimed one game in the second set to break the monotony of the defeat but Cirstea then finished it off with another break of serve.
The former world number 21 had earlier ended the previous season with a title on the ITF circuit, winning the Dubai competition with some solid wins over players in the top 70 of the WTA charts. Not sure a match like her first round encounter would have done anything to help get rid of her rustiness but having played as recently as December last year in that ITF competition, there might not be too much of it anyway.
Bencic v Cirstea Prediction and Tip
Bencic is a favourite but Cirstea can be expected to trouble her and may be even carve out a set off her.
Tip: Cirstea to win a set – Yes: 4/5 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Grampians Trophy in Melbourne will be played from February 3. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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