Damien Kayat previews Victoria Azarenka vs Sloane Stephens and Iga Swiatek vs Karolina Pliskova in selected round of 32 matches of the National Bank Open on the 9th of August 2023.
2023 WTA Tour
WTA 1000 Series
National Bank Open (Canadian Open)
IGA Stadium, Montreal, Quebec (Outdoor Hardcourt)
Selected Round of 32 matches – 9th August
Victoria Azarenka 59/100 | Sloane Stephens 13/10
Given her hardcourt record over the years, I was a bit surprised to learn that former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka has never reached the final in this event. Her flat-hitting style makes her an ideal candidate for success here.
Be that as it may, the Belarusian absolutely destroyed Magda Linette in their first-round tussle and she will feel buoyed by that. Azarenka has largely floundered on the tour this year. She lost in the first-round of last week’s Citi Open and she has hasn’t reached a final all season. Her season has really been propped up by some excellent Grand Slam performances.
She reached the semi-finals of this year’s Aussie Open and she is fresh off a creditable 4th round run at Wimbledon. This is traditionally the portion of the season where Azarenka can shine. She won the Cincinnati Open and reached the US Open final as recently as 2020.
2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens has been one of the most frustrating players on the tour for some time now. Oft-accused of a lazy approach to the sport, Stephens has probably not maximized her awesome potential.
But the American seems to have found a semblance of consistency in her game of late. She reached back-to-back quarterfinals in Mexico and Austin earlier this season. She then won a morale-boosting WTA 125K event in Saint-Malo. That win felt like a real catalyst for Stephens. She reached the semi-finals of the Moroccan Open before an encouraging 4th round run at the French Open.
She narrowly lost to Vekic at Wimbledon, but she did suffer a disappointing loss to Lauren Davies at last week’s Citi Open. She looked assured in her opening match, seeing off the dangerous Kalinina in straight-sets. Stephens reached the semi-finals of this event in 2017 and finished runner-up on these courts in 2018.
Verdict: Stephens to win in three sets – 44/10
This is actually one of the most fascinating rivalries on the tour, with Azarenka leading Stephens 5-4 in their head-to-head matches. Azarenka surprisingly beat Stephens twice on clay this year. But Stephens holds a commanding 3-0 advantage over Azarenka in North-American hardcourt events.
This is just a great clash of styles, with the aggressive Azarenka forcing the tempo and the patient Stephens hanging in and defending for her life. But I think there’s a doggedness in Stephens of late that has been missing in recent seasons. I can see her frustrating Azarenka into plenty of errors and emerging victorious in three sets.
Iga Swiatek 1/12 | Karolina Pliskova 13/2
World No.1 Iga Swiatek takes on former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova in a glamourous round of 32 clash. It doesn’t feel like Swiatek has enjoyed an incredible season. That’s because her current 47-7 record doesn’t really bare comparisons with her herculean form from last year.
Also, the Pole has only added one Slam to her name this year (on the red clay in Paris). But her recent victory in Warsaw took her to four titles this season. She has featured in six finals this year and will be looking to build up some solid momentum ahead of her US Open title defence.
She has surprisingly failed to go beyond the 3rd round in two previous appearances at the Canadian Open. She will be a hot favoruite to remedy that record here.
32-year-old Karolina Pliskova could do with a morale-boosting upset win. The former World No.1 has really struggled to reassert herself on tour since a hand injury sidelined her during the early part of last season.
Her movement has occasionally looked labored and she has struggled with consistency. She is 20-14 this year across all levels (though that improves to 17-8 on hard surfaces). Still, quarterfinal runs at last year’s US Open and this year’s Aussie Open speak to her undoubted quality.
And the Czech has an excellent record in this event, reaching the final here in 2021 and the semi-finals in Toronto last season. She just battled past China’s Lin Zhu and will need to improve drastically to compete with the pugnacious Swiatek.
Verdict: Swiatek to win in three sets at 7/2
Swiatek leads the head-to-head 2-0. She embarrassingly double-bagelled the Czech in the 2021 Rome final. But the Pole was forced to come back from a set down when they met in Stuttgart earlier this year.
The problem Pliskova has is that Swiatek has far superior movement. This forces the Czech to overcompensate and go for unrealistic winners to end rallies. But the Czech will take solace in some solid tournament form and I think it’s worth backing her to nick a set.
