Damien Kayat previews selected matches coming your way from the WTA's Rogers Cup on Tuesday and Wednesday.
2021 WTA Tour
WTA 1000
Rogers Cup
IGA Stadium, Montreal, Canada
Tuesday 10th August- Round of 64 Match
Daria Kasatkina 37/100 | Petra Martic 2/1
Daria Kasatkina has been one of the most in-form players on the entire tour this season. She is fresh off competing in her 4th WTA Final of the year. But could that be a negative this week? Jetlag and exhaustion could come into play after such an exhaustive week in San Jose last week. Looking at her other finals this year, Kasatkina has really dominated on hardcourts. She won the Phillip Island Trophy before losing in the ST Peterburg Trophy (she also reached the Birmingham Final on grass). The former Indian Wells finalist has re-entered the world’s top 30 after an absence of over two years. It’s weird to consider this a career renaissance (she’s still just 24 years of age).
Petra Martic is coming off a disappointing round of 16 loss to Magda Linette in San Jose. In fact, Martic has failed to win back-to-back matches on hardcourts since her quarterfinal run at the Phillip Island Trophy. That’s not exactly inspiring stuff. It was really her solid clay-court form that has allowed her to retain her top 40 status: she reached the semi-finals in Rome and quarterfinals in Parma). She currently sits at 13-15 for the season. The four-time WTA finalist has two hardcourt finals to her name. The last of those came at the 2019 Zhengzhou Open. Martic is really a dogged competitor who manages to hang in the world’s top 50 by virtue of her outstanding work ethic. But the 30-year-old has never really possessed the kind of ability that can make her a consistent presence in the upper echelons of women’s tennis.
Verdict: Kasatkina in 3 sets at 31/10
The head-to-head record between these two currently stands at 1-1. Most significantly, Kasatkina only dropped four games in their meeting at this year’s Phillip Island Trophy. But I think that Martic will benefit from Kasatkina’s exertions in San Jose last week. However, I think that the Russian will ultimately prevail in three sets at 31/10.
Wednesday 11th August- Round of 32 Match
Victoria Azarenka 4/10 | Sorana Cirstea 19/10
Sorana Cirstea is in the middle of an impressive upswing in form. The Romanian, nominally a clay-court specialist, won her first title since 2008 at the Istanbul Open. She then just went on a real clay-court spree, reaching the final in Strasbourg prior to a 4th round run at Roland Garros. She has managed to manoeuvre her way up the rankings from 71 to 40. Playing in her first match since Wimbledon, can she possibly transfer some of that positive juju onto these hardcourts? She looked super impressive in her opening match against American Allison Riske, winning a phenomenal 81% of her first-serve points. Added to that, she picked up her most significant result in this very event in 2013. She was thrashed by Serena Williams in the 2013 Rogers Cup Final (though that did take place at the Aviva Centre in Toronto).
Victoria Azarenka’s 2020 resurgence was perhaps one of the most heart-warming narratives of the season. After all of her injury and legal woes, the Belarusian could have been forgiven for saying goodbye to tennis. But she persevered and enjoyed an epic send-off to the year. She won the Western and Southern Open prior to that herculean run to the US Open Final. But 2021 has been more of a struggle for Azarenka. That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been some decent results. She reached the semi-finals in Berlin and Qatar. But injury concerns have consistently forced her to withdraw from events. If you were to omit her withdrawals from this year’s campaign, her year-to-date win-loss record would stand at 16-5. She just hasn’t been able to fully shake some lower back issues. Will she be able to compete this week? Given her excellent hardcourt pedigree, I was somewhat surprised to discover that she hasn’t reached the final of this event before.
Verdict: Cirstea to win at 19/10
Unsurprisingly, Azarenka leads their head-to-head 3-1. However, Cirstea actually won their last meeting at Wimbledon earlier this season. This will also be the first event for Azarenka since Wimbledon. Cirstea may have a slight edge in having already tested herself out against Riske. I think there’s value in opting for Cirstea though I wouldn’t want to split hairs about the nature of the win.
