Sloane Stephens will take on Timea Babos in their second round match at the 2019 Australian Open after both registered a straight-set wins in their opening round.
Watch & bet on Sloane Stephens v Timea Babos live with bet365 here* on Wednesday, January 16. The Stephens v Townsend first round match will start at around 1:00 pm local time (2:00 am BST).
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Sloane Stephens v Timea Babos
This will be just their second meeting with the first match having come way ago in 2012. That match was played on clay in Strasbourg and Stephens had won it in three sets.
Stephens’ Career-Defining Season in 2018
The American was a straight-set winner in the first round, beating Taylor Townsend. She won 6-4, 6-2, which was interestingly her first win at the Australian Open since 2014. This was after Townsend took a 2-0 lead in the first set before Stephens broke back and went on to do it yet again to win the first set.
Interestingly, Stephens had three break-points in the seventh game of the first set, but lost the game. However, this was followed by Stephens going on to win the next three games in a row to clinch it.
Having reached a career-high of number three ranking on the WTA circuit, Sloane Stephens will look to build on her previous season form and push ahead at this first major of the year. This was after she started off moderately but went on to win the Miami Masters and finished second at the French Open.
The form continued with a finals appearance at the WTA Championships, losing to Elina Svitolina, following a quarter-final exit at the US Open. She also lost at the Rogers Cup final to Simona Halep, in a three-setter.
Babos Breaks Losing Streak
The Hungarian was on a four-match losing streak, having gone down to Kristina Mladenovic and Eugenie Bouchard last year and then losing to Bianca Vanessa Andreescu and Viktoria Kuzmova this year at Auckland and Hobart respectively.
This time around though, it didn’t look too easy for Babos, who was taken to the tie-breaker in both her sets. She needed an hour and 42 minutes to make it to the round two of the tournament.
Stephens v Babos – Who Will Win?
Stephens should not have too many troubles in this one and we predict a straight-set win for the American.
You can watch & bet on Sloane Stephens v Timea Babos live with bet365 here on Wednesday, January 16.
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