Fourteenth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan will take on China’s Zheng Saisai in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday, March 8. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Elena Rybakina v Zheng Saisai match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Elena Rybakina v Zheng Saisai Head to Head
They have met only once before, which was in Shenzhen last year and Rybakina won that Round-of-32 contest 6-2, 1-6, 6-2.
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Last Year’s Runner-up Searching for Form
Following a stellar 2020 season, World No. 23 Elena Rybakina had a promising start to 2021 as well, reaching the quarterfinals in Abu Dhabi, but since then, she seems to have lost form, winning just one match in her previous three tournaments.
The 21-year-old Kazakh, who won her maiden title in Bucharest in 2019 and added another one in Hobart last year, reached as many as five finals in 2020, finishing runner-up in four.
One of those finals was in Dubai, where she came very close to picking a third WTA title but was edged out by top seed Simona Halep 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Her route to the final included wins over Sofia Kenin in the first round, second seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinal and eighth seed Petra Martic in the semifinal.
Rybakina started the 2020 season in top form and finished with a stunning 28-11 record.
Beginning with a run to the final in Shenzhen, where she finished runner-up to Ekaterina Alexandrova, she went on to win the title in Hobart the next week, beating Zhang Shuai in the final. She followed that with a run to the third round of the Australian Open on her main draw debut.
Her purple patch continued in St. Petersburg, where she reached her third final of the year, finishing runner-up to Kiki Bertens and followed that with a run to a fourth final in Dubai.
Starting off slowly after the resumption of tour following the lockdown, she found form in the later half, reaching the final in Strasbourg, where she went down fighting to Elina Svitolina.
She began the new year by beating Lucrezia Stefanini, Xiyu Wang and Daria Kasatkina in the first three rounds in Abu Dhabi but fell to Aryna Sabalenka in a tough quarterfinal.
Entering the Australian Open after making a first-round exit at the Grampians Trophy, she got off to a good start, scoring a come-from-behind win against Vera Zvonareva before falling to Fiona Ferro in the next round.
She comes to Dubai after losing her first-round match at the Qatar Open to Laura Siegemund.
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Zheng Hoping To End Winless Streak
Facing Rybakina in the first round will be China’s Zheng Saisai who has lost all five of her matches this year.
The 27-year-old began the season at the Gippsland Trophy, falling to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round.
At the Australian Open, it was Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova who stopped her from entering the second round, while Britain’s Francesca Jones kept her winless in 2021 at the Phillip Island Trophy.
Her disappointing run continued in Adelaide and Qatar, as the World No. 48 was beaten by Danielle Collins and Misaki Doi in the first rounds respectively.
A two-time WTA finalist, Zheng who won the title in San Jose in 2019, will be desperate to snap the winless streak in Dubai and get back to winning ways.
Rybakina v Saisai Prediction and Tip
Although Rybakina has not been as dangerous as she was in 2020, she has still produced a few good results and would be hoping to get back her last year’s form by making another deep run in Dubai. Expect her to extend the Chinese player’s woeful run.
Tip: Rybakina to win in straight sets: 8/11 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Dubai Open will be played from March 8 to 14. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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