World No. 11 Daria Kasatkina will square off against big-serving Czech Karolina Pliskova in the first round of the 2023 WTA Eastbourne International on Wednesday, June 28. Get the predictions and odds of this Daria Kasatkina v Karolina Pliskova match along with its preview, head-to-head, and tips here.
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Daria Kasatkina v Karolina Pliskova Head to Head
Karolina Pliskova leads Daria Kasatkina 2-1 in their head-to-head. But these two players last played one another in 2016.
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Kasatkina Returns to Winning Ways
Daria Kasatkina put on an emphatic showing in her Eastbourne opener to curb her recent mini-slump. The Russian breezed past Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-3 6-1 in an hour and 15 minutes.
Kasatkina had lost her last two matches, one of those coming against the other Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the fourth round of the French Open. And her grass-court swing began badly as she fell to a three-set defeat against Elina Avanesyan in Berlin.
But Kasatkina was sharp and full of energy in Eastbourne. She set the early pace, breaking Kalinina and surging to a 4-1 lead. Kalinina had been in dire form since retiring in the Rome final last month.
And although there was a blip in one of Kasatkina’s service games midway through the first set that allowed Kalinina to get the set back on serve, it was only a momentary blip. Soon after, Kasatkina broke again for a 5-3 and served the opening stanza to love.
The second set began harrowingly for Kalinina who was left utterly bereft of ideas due to Kasatkina’s lovely variation. The Russian raced to a 4-0 lead with the insurance of a double break, before going on to seal the set in 34 minutes.
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Mertens Retires as Pliskova Advances
Karolina Pliskova extended her winning record over Elise Mertens to 3-1 following her retirement win in the first round in Eastbourne.
Pliskova had beaten Mertens on grass on this very court in 2019, dropping just three games. But Mertens proved she learned a great deal from that defeat and especially on grass in the past few seasons.
For the best part of 68 minutes, Mertens was the better player as she won a marathon first set in a tiebreak. But worryingly for the Belgian her serve was leaking too many double faults – nine to be exact.
It was only a matter of time before Pliskova would put Mertens’ serve under the microscope. She did so in the second set, breaking Mertens twice, and limiting the Belgian to 47% of second-serve points won.
Mertens’ struggles were further compounded by her inability to serve and move around the court. It is difficult to tell whether it could have a recurrence of the hip injury she picked up at the French Open, but she was left with no option but to retire when 3-0 down midway through the third set.
Kasatkina v Pliskova Prediction and Tip
It wasn’t pretty for a while, but Pliskova scoured for solutions and found them to edge past Mertens. Kasatkina, by contrast, cruised in her opener. These two, remarkably, haven’t played each other since 2016. Expecting a tense match and I can see Kasatkina’s silky hands matching up to Pliskova’s power.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Kasatkina to win a set – Yes: 4/11
- Moderate Risk Tip: Kasatkina to win: 10/11
The 2023 WTA Eastbourne International will be played from June 25 to July 1. You can get all the tennis betting news with our tennis betting blog here. Also get rest of the tennis match previews here.
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