(Tennis news) Elena Rybakina began the defence of her championship against Shelby Rogers. The Kazakh blew a serve at the beginning of the first set and was unable to make up for it, losing the opening game. After the setback, Rybakina made a good recovery. In order to win it and tie the match, she dropped just one game in the second set. To win the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, she continued to control play by breaking Rogers’ serve twice in the third set.

In this case, Alize Cornet was pitted against unfortunate loser Nao Hibino. To seize control in the first set, the former quickly built a 3-0 advantage. In order to win the set, she later broke her opponent’s serve once more. In the second set, Alize Cornet jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and appeared to be winning, but Hibino briefly fought back. She won the following two games to make the score 4-2, but after that, her defences broke down. The Frenchwoman won the following two games to take the match 6-2, 6-2.

Head-to-Head

In the head-to-head matchup, Rybakina is up 2-0 on Cornet. At the 2020 Strasbourg Open, Elena Rybakina defeated Alize Cornet 2-0.

Predictions

Elena Rybakina overcame a sluggish beginning to begin her championship defence against Rogers. Her serve was crucial to her victory, as usual. She won a whopping 12 aces and 93% of her first serve points. The fact that the Kazakh made 31 wins as opposed to 18 unforced errors suggests that she played a fairly error-free encounter.

Compared to Hibino, Cornet had it quite easy. She wasn’t put to the test in that way, except for a tiny wobble in the second set. Even though she hasn’t had much success this year, the Frenchwoman is always a challenging opponent.

Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak was broken by Cornet last year when she eliminated her in the third round of Wimbledon. Here, in 2014, she also achieved a notable victory over Serena Williams. Numerous players have found the veteran’s diverse playing style to be a nightmare in the past.

Cornet won’t be able to hurt Rybakina if she maintains her serving metrics from the previous round. If rallies rarely last more than a few shots, the Kazakh won’t be the victim of her opponent’s cunning. The favourite to win this matchup will be the current champion.

Elena Rybakina to win 3-0.
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