The first round offered us many upsets and great action all around. WTA was not the only one involved with the early surprises as we saw Nadal being taken out in the first match in Australian Open for the first time in his career.. Round 2 have some quite interesting bouts and more upsets probably are on its way.
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska v Eugenie Bouchard
The match is scheduled in the night session and rightfully so. Both won their 1st round encounters without much trouble and now they are up in to a blockbuster encounter.
With current ranking of 37, and no seed next to her name, Bouchard could have landed anywhere and that’s why we get such a highlight reel match so early on in the competition.
After really disappointing 2015,the Canadian started the year better with making it to the Hobart Intl. finals and despite she was beaten easily by Alize Cornet, that gave her a needed mental boost while in pursuit to match last year’s QF appearance in Melbourne Park. The gained almost 10 places in the rankings in 2016 would not matter if she get ousted here though.
Not often you see Genie underdog of 3.00+ or more and she hasn’t been that low since Aus Open QF last year against Maria Sharapova. Overall she has won only 5 of 19 matches in that role with -20.5% ROI.
Radwanska leads the h2h 2-0, with meetings in Hopman Cup in 2013 and Madrid in 2014.
Since losing in her first 2 matches in the group in Singapore WTA championships, she won the last one and then the semi and the final claiming the title. She hasn’t slowed down with claiming the Shenzhen title without dropping a set, but not facing a player inside top 90 as well.
Aga has had good results in the first grand slam of the year, making it to the QF in 3 of the last 4 editions of the event, and despite Bouchard’s recent improvement if she doesn’t show enough patience in her shots selection the Polish player will force her to unforced error galore and this could end quick.
Daria Gavrilova v (6) Petra Kvitova
Petra started her 2016 retiring in her first match to Saisai Zheng in Shenzhen due to stomach virus. Despite the uncertainty with her health, she avenged one of her biggest shock defeats in her career – to Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum in 2014 Aus Open. Overall she has been eliminated before the 4th round in her last 4 appearances in Melbourne .
The Czech has also lost her last 3 matches while being favourited between 1.20-1.49 and despite holding a 57-27 w/l record in her career in that position she is with -11% ROI.
Both players have met recently, in Wuhan Premier in September last year, a 3 close set win for Kvitova.
Daria has been past the 1st round only once in her career in Mebourne, In her debut in 2013. She has 3 top 10 wins, all coming last year while boosting a +66.3% ROI.
The Russian changed to Aussie Daria can get under the skin of many players with her never say I quit attitude and returning many impossible balls while forcing the opposition to play one more shot. It nearly got her the win last year against a heavy hitter such as Kvitova, but on a slower hard court such as Melbourne she again will have her chance to score yet another upset in the already depleted Women’s draw. But on the side note Kvitova is known as a player who struggles in the heat, but the organizers put this as the Night session match which could be beneficial for the Czech.
• Men’s Matches will be added tomorrow for Thursday’s action
Pinnacle Odds feed returns
Oct 13 | by ulesoRecently we had an interruption to our odds feed that creates the markets here at Tennis Insight. This was caused by Pinnacle Sports suddenly and unexpectedly changing their policy around supplying odds to their customers. Fortunately due ...
WTA Chicago 500 Preview
Sep 27 | by Asen PeshevHistory… This will be the first and maybe the last Chicago Fall Tennis Classic tournament, as it was organized to fill in the gap created by cancellation of the Asia Swing for a 2nd year in ...
WTA Ostrava Preview
Sep 19 | by Asen PeshevHistory… Ostrava open returned to the WTA tour last year to make up for all the cancelled tournaments in China. The Premier event was played in October in 2020 but now is pushed a month before, ...
ATP Metz Preview
Sep 19 | by Asen PeshevHistory… The Moselle Open was founded in 2003 and was part of the ATP International series until 2009 when it got the ATP 250 label that the tournament holds to this day. It is one of ...