8th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova battles Marketa Vondrousova in the round of 32 of the Adelaide International on Tuesday.
The world No. 19 had an impressive finish to the season in 2022. She might have lost in the first round of the Guadalajara Open, but prior to that, she won the Korea Open by beating top seed Jelena Ostapenko in the final. Following this win, Alexandrova also came up with a run to the semis of the Ostrava Open.
Earlier in 2022, Alexandrova won the Libema Open by comprehensively defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the finals. The Russian tennis pro also made his debut in the top 20 of the WTA rankings in 2022.
2022 ended for Marketa Vondrousova when she lost the finals of the doubles event in the WTA Angers Arena Loire Open in December, partnering with compatriot Miriam Kolodziejova. In the singles event, she lost to eventual champion Alycia Parks in the quarterfinals. Just prior to this tournament, Vondrousova won an ITF title in Shrewsbury.
The 2019 French Open finalist suffered quite a few injuries in 2022. After making it to the third round at the Australian Open, the youngster from the Czech Republic made it to the semis of the Dubai Tennis Championships. However, she had to pull out prior to the match owing to an injury.
Marketa Vondrousova has a slender 2-1 lead in the head-to-head scoreline as of now. She won their previous encounter at the semifinals of an ITF event in Slovakia in 2017 when Alexandrova retired in the middle of the match.
Prediction: Ekaterina Alexandrova to win in three sets.
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