Damien Kayat previews the WTA Tour’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Open matches featuring Ons Jabeur vs Daria Kasatkina as well as Bianca Andreescu vs Aryna Sabalenka.
2022 WTA Tour
WTA 500
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart Open)
Porsche Arena (Indoor Clay-court)
Selected Round of 16 Matches- 21st April
Ons Jabeur (7) (7/20) vs Daria Kasatkina (21/10)
Tunisian tennis sensation Ons Jabeur created history last year by becoming the first Arab woman to break into the world’s top 10. Still, she was pipped to the post by Anett Kontaveit in her quest to make her maiden WTA Finals appearance.
That disappointment seemed to have left some scar tissue as the Tunisian struggled in the opening salvos of this season. She hadn’t won three consecutive matches leading into this year’s clay-court season.
But she came roaring back on the clay, reaching the final of the Charleston Open (she lost to Belinda Bencic in the final). Bencic has evolved into a handy clay-court player over the last few years. Her variety of stroke-play and use of the drop-shot make her a canny competitor on this surface.
She reached the semi-finals of last year’s Charleston Open and the final of the WTA MUSC Health Open (also held on the Charleston clay). She just came through a bruising maiden Stuttgart match, coming from a set down to take down former Roland Garros finalist Marketa Vondrousova.
Daria Kasatkina is coming off a resurgent 2021 campaign that saw her claim two WTA singles titles. She seemed to bring this form into 2022, reaching back-to-back semi-finals in Melbourne and Sydney.
She then had the misfortune of running into Iga Swiatek in the 3rd round of the Aussie Open. This became something of an unfortunate trend for Kasatkina, who would run into an inspired Swiatek twice during the Middle-East swing. This obviously dented her confidence as she really struggled during the Sunshine Double.
But Kasatkina is a noted clay-court player, winning the 2017 Charleston Open. Her greatest ever result was a final at Indian Wells (notoriously one of the slower hard-court surfaces you will ever come across). Slower surfaces give her the opportunity to use her variety and find those interesting angles she loves.
She looked in trouble in her opening match against Coco Gauff, going down to an early 4-0 deficit in the first set. But she rattled off 12 of the next 14 games in a powerhouse display that took her career record against Gauff to 2-0.
The Verdict: Kasatkina to win in three at 58/10- This will be the 5th career meeting between the two. They have won two matches apiece and have never met on clay. Having said that, Jabeur won both of their matches last year. This should be one for the purists.
Both of these players are comfortable on clay and love mixing things up. Both are drop-shot artists who don’t stick to the baseline. I just think that Kasatkina’s performance against Gauff will have given her the momentum on her favourite surface.
Bianca Andreescu (37/20) vs Aryna Sabalenka (3) (41/100)
Former World Number 4 Bianca Andreescu has endured a torrid couple of years on the tour that has seen her plummet to 121 in the rankings. Andreescu’s triumphant US Open win seemed to signal the arrival of a new titan in the woman’s game. But a terrible knee injury has plagued her for the past few seasons.
She returned to action last year to great effect, reaching the final of the Miami Open. But the Canadian couldn’t catch a break as she contracted Covid just as her career seemed to be getting back on track. She hasn’t played since October last year and has talked openly about the mental issues she has had (she even considered retiring at the age of 21).
She took a wildcard at this year’s Stuttgart Open and overcame a spirted Jule Niemeier. She hasn’t had amazing success on clay despite having enough variety in her game to compete with anyone. The question still remains: is she physically ready for a concerted title push?
I think that Aryna Sabalenka could be the perfect opponent for Andreescu. The 23-year-old 3rd seed has had an extremely underwhelming season, sitting on 7-8 in her year-to-date stats. Her best result this season was a 4th round showing at the Aussie Open.
She has had some practice on clay, losing to Amanda Anisimova in three sets at the Charleston Open.
Sabalenka has struggled with expectations for some time now. Her powerful serve and groundstrokes just scream Grand Slam champion. But for whatever reason she has failed to string together performances when it has mattered most.
She is coming off an excellent season on clay in 2021 (she reached the final of this event and went on to win the Madrid Open). But her confidence looks a bit shot and this isn’t exactly the friendliest of opening matches.
The Verdict: Andreescu to win at 37/20- Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 1-0. But that victory did come in an ITF event in 2017 (Andreescu may have been 16). Sabalenka reached the final here last year and Andreescu is clearly lacking in match fitness. But I think Andreescu will be massively buoyed by that opening victory.
She has already shown a level of BMT in her short career that Sabalenka has consistently been lacking in. She also has more variety that Sabalenka (who tends to flatten out her groundstrokes when she can). She could spring an upset against and out-of-form Sabalenka.
