World number six Karolína Plíšková will get another opportunity to get her career back on track when she takes on China’s Zheng Saisai in the second round of the 2021 Miami Open on Friday, March 26. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Karolína Plíšková v Zheng Saisai match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Karolína Plíšková v Zheng Saisai Head to Head
In their only previous match at the highest level, Pliskova had defeated Saisai in the 2017 French Open where she had won in straight sets in that second round encounter. Before that, they had also faced off on the ITF circuit with that match coming in 2013 and Pliskova winning that final in Sanya 6-3, 6-4.
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Australian Open Third Round is Plíšková’s Best This Year
Such have been Pliskova’s struggles all season, her best showing this year came at the Australian Open where she won back to back matches in a competition for the only time. Wins over Jasmine Paolini and Danielle Collins took her to the third round in that tournament where the former world number one lost to Karolina Muchova.
On either side of that Australian Open campaign lies evidence of Pliskova’s struggle.
At the Aby Dhabhi Open in January, Pliskova was ousted by little-known Anastasia Gasanova in round two. Collins then pushed her aside at the Yarra Valley Classic but at least she had her revenge against her at the Australian Open.
It was followed by Jessica Pegula routing Pliskova in the quarterfinal at the WTA Doha, before the same player registering a 6-0, 6-2 win in Dubai as well.
With her confidence severely dented, Pliskova would look at the Miami Open where she was a finalist in 2019, to get her career going again.
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Saisai Shows Spirit in Opening Win
While Saisai has never been a number one player unlike Pliskova, she has had her time under the sun too. And to see her come into this tournament with just two wins from nine matches was never going to be an easy proposition.
When Saisai fell a set behind against Fiona Ferro in her opener here, the writing seemed to be on the wall. Form issues in general and a misfiring ability to win the big points in the set meant she was broken thrice out of the four occasions a chance was on offer.
And when in the second set, Ferro ran away to a 3-1 lead, Saisai could well have thrown in the towel.
Instead, the Chinese player fought on, breaking right back and then making it two breaks in a row before getting broken back for the score to read 4-4. From there on, however, Saisai went on a breaking spree, handing Ferro four successive breaks of serve and while the Frenchwoman retaliated with two of her own, she lost serve as she served to make it 4-5.
Can this, however, be enough against a player of Pliskova’s stature.
Plíšková v Saisai Prediction and Tip
It’s Pliskova’s struggles which make this a tight match in the offing, and we could see, as a result, over 20.5 games in the encounter.
Tip: Over 20.5 games in the match: 5/6 (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.