Daily match picks

Donna Vekic 2.3, Ekaterina Alexandrova 1.74

Due to start around 2 pm

Vekic won their only previous meeting. It was also on an indoor hard court in February 2017 in Budapest. She won in 2 sets).

Overall results are stronger for Alexandrova in the last 12 months. Her indoor results are significantly better. She won 16 of her 19 indoor matches in the last year. That’s 84%.

Vekic put in some excellent performances in 2019. She was strongest on hard courts and reached the quarter finals of the US Open. She also made the semi finals in San Jose in July and the third round in Cincinnati. She has made a good start to 2020 with a quarter final in Adelaide and she reached the third round in Melbourne beating Sharapova in the first round. This week she had a comfortable win over Kristie Ahn in straight sets. Last year she reached the final in St Petersburg where she lost in 2 very tight sets to Kiki Bertens.

Alexandrova has made a great start to the season. She won the title in Shenzhen and also reached the third round at the Australian Open where she lost quite meekly to Petra Kvitova. This week she beat Kasatkina in 3 sets. She served fairly well and was broken 4 times in 3 sets. Last year she reached the quarter finals as a qualifier where she was beaten in straight sets by Aryna Sabalenka.

Back Alexandrova around 1.90 to 2.00.

   

Belinda Bencic 1.69, Svetlana Kuznetsova 2.42

Due to start around 3:30 pm

Bencic leads their previous matches 2-1. They last met in Madrid in May 2019. Bencic won on clay in 3 sets. Kuznetova’s win was due to Bencic retiring in Wuhan in 2016.

Better overall results for Bencic in the last 12 months. She has won 67% of matches compared to 54% for Kuznetsova

Kuznetsova’s form in 2020 has been a little erratic. She had some real problems with her serve at the Australian Open. She is back on home soil and had a very strong win over Jennifer Brady in the last round. She faced 12 break points but was only broken once.

Bencic has made a better start to the year but still hasn’t fired on all cylinders. If Kuznetsova can main her 1st round form this can go to 3 but I favour Bencic to win. Back Bencic around 2.10. Lay the set 1 winner.