Venus Williams of the USA, ranked 80 in the world, will be up against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, ranked 87, in the opening round of the 2021 Australian Open on Monday, February 8, with the match likely to begin at around 1 pm local time. Get the live streaming options of this Danielle Venus Williams v Kirsten Flipkens match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Venus Williams v Kirsten Flipkens Head to Head
The pair have played each other four times before and their head-to-head is two wins each.
Williams won their first match playing in the Fed Cup for the USA against Belgium and Kirsten their last encounter at the Rio Olympics. Sandwiched between the two were two matches in 2013 – the Belgian winning at he Canadian Masters, but Williams getting her revenge at the US Open..
Read:
Old Warhorse Continues to Fight
The older Williams sister has never won the singles title in Melbourne, although she has been twice a beaten finalist. However, with four doubles’ titles with Serena and the Mixed Doubles in 1999, she knows what it is to win in Australia.
Now 40-year-old, the question she now has to answer most often is when, and not if, she plans to retire. Certainly, these days she limits her commitments and tends to restrict herself to the more high profile events.
2020 was not a good year for her. She was stunned by the American teenager Coco Gauff in the first round here and only won one competitive match after that at Lexington.
She has already emulated that feat by winning her first round match in the Yarra Valley Classic beating the Dutchwoman Arantje Rus, before losing in three sets to Petra Kvitova and the big question is whether she can take that slight change in fortunes further.
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Gritty Flipkens Won’t be an Easy Opponent
Flipkens is instantly recognisable as one of the few player on tour nowadays to ear spectacles – in fact, so much have they become her trademark that she then sponsored.
Like Williams she is now at the wrong end of a long career, and, although she does not have the same extensive trophy cabinet as Williams, she has enjoyed success of her own, including winning the Tournoi de Quebec in 2012, and reaching a career high ranking of 13.
In terms of Grand Slams, her best came at Wimbledon in 2013 when she was a semi-finalist in 2013, the same year that she had her best result in Melbourne by reaching the fourth round.
Like Williams though she lost in the first round here last year, beaten by Karolina Muchova.
That heralded the start of a disappointing year in which she failed to get beyond the second round in any event,
So far this year she entered the event in Abu Dhabi where she first beat the German Laura Siegemund and was holding Sofia Kenin when she had to retire with injury.
Williams v Flipkens Prediction and Tip
This is very much a battle of the veterans with the pair sharing 75 years between them, and probably neither have got many more years competing in Melbourne left. Williams though is tipped to reach the second round once again.
Tip: Williams to win in straight sets: 4/5 (bet365)
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The 2021 Australian Open will be played from February 8 to 21. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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