Number seven seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will play Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in the second round of the 2021 Australian Open on Wednesday, February 10. Timings of this match will be available upon the release of order of play. Get the live streaming options of this Aryna Sabalenka v Daria Kasatkina match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Aryna Sabalenka v Daria Kasatkina Head to Head
There have been two previous meetings between these two players. The head-to-head is tied at 1-1. Kasatkina won the first match up on the hard courts of Beijing in 2019 in straight sets. And Sabalenka retorted by winning at last year’s French Open, 7-6 6-0.
Incidentally, this is the third time that they are meeting in a second round of a tournament.
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Sabalenka Makes Explosive Start
The grunting went up several decibels on Court 3 on Monday. That only meant one thing. Aryna Sabalenka was ferociously hitting the tennis ball, and poor Viktoria Kuzmova could only stand and watch.
Sabalenka was hugging the baseline for most of the 63-minute contest against the world no.100 from Slovakia. Kuzmova was on the receiving end of a bagel in her first match at the Yara Valley Classic against Daria Gavrilova a week ago, and it was Sabalenka’s turn to inflict another.
The Belarusian posted some frightening numbers. She won 16 out of 21 points behind her first serve, with her fastest serve hitting an impressive 191 kmh. While Sabalenka can be a hit and miss at times, there were only 14 unforced errors throughout the two sets, and fittingly she produced 21 winners.
Kuzmova attempted to derail Sabalenka’s progress, as she fought back in the second set which was highly competitive. She broke Sabalenka’s serve twice, but the problem was that she had little control in protecting her own delivery.
The world no.7 was aggressive from the back of the court as she put a near-perfect performance to reach the second round and live up to the mantle as one of the favorites to win the Australian Open.
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Kasatkina Enjoying A Renaissance
The Daria Kasatkina trail is gathering some real momentum on the eve of this mouthwatering second round match. The talented Russian made a statement of intent in her opening round victory over Great Britain’s Katie Boulter.
Boulter it should be noted, was playing some decent stuff since the turn of the year after making full recovery from a back injury. The Brit had notched up an impressive win over Coco Gauff in the tune-up event in Melbourne and took a set off Naomi Osaka.
But Kasatkina wasted no time in making her point. She broke Boulter’s serve in the opening game and raced to a 3-1 lead. Just as Boulter was trying to stamp her authority in the match, Kasatkina took the set 6-1 playing some deft touches from the baseline.
The Russian world no.71, landed 74% of first serve points, and won 66% of them. She also won over half of receiving points, breaking serve six times in a dominant 6-1 6-4 win. Kasatkina has now won five matches to start the season. In comparison to last year, it took her the opening three months to get to five wins. She is certainly enjoying a renaissance.
Sabalenka v Kasatkina Prediction and Tip
Kasatkina’s unorthodox brand of tennis can pose some very tough questions to Sabalenka. But the Belarusian is in the form of her life right now. Expect her to march on.
Tip: Sabalenka 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 the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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