Aliaksandra Sasnovich will take on Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the second round of the Italian Open
Donna Vekic made a good start to the season with two consecutive quarter-final appearances at the Australian Open and the Linz Open before going on to win the Monterrey Open.
However, her form hasn’t been the same recently and she is going through a rough patch. The 21st seed is coming into this match following a first-round exit from the Madrid Open, which is a pretty poor result by her standards. There are high expectations from Vekic in Italy and it remains to be seen if she can live up to them.
Sasnovich has been in poor form this season and has suffered early eliminations from most of the tournaments she has played so far this year. The 29-year-old is ranked World No.47 in WTA women’s singles but she hasn’t quite played like a Top 50 player this year. Sasnovich will be aiming to turn things around in Italy and set a positive tone for the remainder of the season.
She is coming into this match after a hard-fought win against Canada’s Leylah Fernandez. Sasnovich toiled hard to eventually emerge victorious in this thrilling encounter with the final scoreline being 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the Belarusian’s favour. It remains to be seen if she can carry forward the momentum and cause an upset against No.21 seed Donna Vekic.
Details:
Date – Friday, 12th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Round of 64 match
Vekic and Sasnovich have played each other thrice before on the WTA Tour. Vekic clearly has the upper hand, having won all three previous encounters and leads 3-0 head-to-head. Their last encounter was played way back in 2019 though. It’s a difficult match to call as both players are not in the best of form and have similar playing styles. We are predicting an intense encounter with Vekic eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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