World number one Ash Barty will hope to take her form from the WTA Melbourne 500 competition last week into the 2021 Australian Open when she faces Danka Kovinic on Tuesday, February 9. Get the live streaming options of this Ash Barty v Danka Kovinic match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Ash Barty v Danka Kovinic Head to Head
There have been no previous matches played between Barty and Kovinic.
Also Read:
It’s Like Barty Never Left the Tour!
In the whole of 2020, Barty played a grand total of 14 matches. All 14 of them came between January and February, following which the pandemic struck and Barty took no part in any exhibition tournament or any of the WTA competitions following the resumption of tennis because of the stringent quarantine rules in her country.
Which is why when she returned to play in her first tournament after 11 months of being away, not a lot was expected out of the world number one. There had earlier been criticism in some quarters as well, about the tweaked ranking system having been too kind to her, allowing her to retain her ranking despite being away from the sport.
All of those question-marks were laid to rest in the Yarra Valley Classic tournament, where she overcame great odds to beat Marie Bouzkova, Ana Bogdan, Shelby Rogers and then the in-form and two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza in the final to lift the trophy there.
Barty’s best showing at her home Grand Slam came last year when she made the semifinal. Can she now carry this form into the Australian Open, starting with a first round victory against the world number 70?
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Kovinic 1-2 This Season
Kovinic has already played in two different tournaments this year and won just one match across them.
At the Abu Dhabi Open in January Kovinic was sent packing in the first round by Karolina Muchova and while she won her first round match against Tamara Zidansek at the Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne, she fell in straight sets to Jelena Ostapenko.
Interestingly, Kovinic did feature in a lot of hard court matches in the Eastern European Championship during the pandemic break. An exhibition tournament, Kovinic played in 10 matches there and won every single encounter in June-July.
Unfortunately, however, for the 77th-ranked player, she won a sum total of one WTA-level match on the same surface and to now face the world number first up here would never be an easy task.
Barty v Kovinic Prediction and Tip
Barty is 1/14 to win her opener and 1/4 to do that in straight sets. The latter would be a safe bet, but a tad riskier one would be games handicap below.
Tip: Games Handicap Barty -6.5: 5/6 (bet365)
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The 2021 Australian Open will be played from February 8 to 21. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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