World number one Ashleigh Barty will resume tennis with a second round match at the 2021 Miami Open against Kristina Kucova on Thursday, March 25. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Ashleigh Barty v Kristina Kucova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Ashleigh Barty v Kristina Kucova Head to Head
Barty and the 149th-ranked Kucova have never faced off in a competitive match before this.
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Barty off Tennis for a Month
Back to back defeats ended the world number one Barty’s Australian summer of 2021 and she will now return here in a hope she can defend the title she had won in Miami in 2019.
Before those successive defeats, however, things looked to be headed in the right direction for Barty, who fought through rustiness and tricky opposition before beating Garbine Muguruza in the Yarra Valley Classic final. That was Barty pocketing her ninth career title.
At the Australian Open that followed, Barty was a favourite, and four matches into the competition it looked like she had all the tools to clinch her second Grand Slam title as well. Wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Shelby Rogers took her to the quarterfinal where she was a set up against Karolina Muchova.
A struggling Muchova then took a medical timeout, and then returned to crash into the Barty party as she won the encounter in three sets to progress to the semifinal.
Barty offered no excuses but then strangely crashed out of the Adelaide International in her very first match, losing to Danielle Collins in straight sets.
With a month to reflect, Barty will hope to kick-start her title defence here with an easy match.
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Kucova Outlasts Baptiste
It was way back in 2017 that Kucova was last ranked in the top 100 on the WTA charts. She ended that season down to 248th following fitness issues, hit a season low of 366th in 2018 before attempting a climb back the following year.
Kucova ended the 2019 season ranked 175th, and had improved to 147th by the end of the following year. The Slovak is now 149th, with a chance to show further improvements as she enters the second round of a tournament she hadn’t participated in since 2017.
And she has gotten to this stage with qualifying wins over Wang Yafan and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova before edging out Hailey Baptiste in her opener here.
In a match which lasted two and a half hours, Kucova raced off to two breaks of serves in the first set, and then lost the second set to two breaks in return. In the third, Kucova led 4-2 at one stage, but got broken by her opponent while serving for the match at 5-4.
She got another chance to serve for the encounter when she broke Baptiste in the 11th game of the final set, and this time around completed the win easily.
Barty v Kucova Prediction and Tip
Barty is an overwhelming favourite here, with odds of 1/20 to win her second round match against a player ranked more than 140 places behind her. Expecting a straight-set victory for the Aussie.
Tip: Barty to win in straight sets: 1/4 (bet365)
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The 2021 Miami Open will be played from March 22 to April 4. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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