The 2024 Abu Dhabi Open continues on Wednesday with Ons Jabeur facing Emma Radacanu and Maria Sakkari taking on Sorana Cirstea in the Round of 16. Damien Kayat previews.
2024 WTA Tour
WTA 500
Abu Dhabi Open
Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre, Abu Dhabi
Selected Ro16 Matches 7th February
Ons Jabeur 87/100 | Emma Radacanu 9/10
We all know that Ons Jabeur does have the tendency to dwell on certain results. She was left in tears after last year’s Wimbledon final defeat to Marketa Vondrousova. And I think she must have felt equally annoyed after her brutal straight-sets defeat to teenager Mirra Andreeva at the Aussie Open.
This will be her first outing since that chastening defeat and it will be fascinating to see how she approaches this match. Jabeur managed to win two titles last season (to go with that Wimbledon final appearance). But she couldn’t quite reach the heights of 2022, struggling for consistency in the wake of that early-season knee surgery.
The Tunisian always enjoys terrific support in this area of the world and she will go into this match as an understandable favourite. She is an all-court wizard who possesses a crafty game that can dumbfound more one-dimensional players.
It’s crazy to think that Emma Radacanu- with just one WTA Final to her name- is the player in this matchup with a Grand Slam title to her name. This is really the time for Radacanu to prove her naysayers wrong. The 2021 US Open champ has been widely castigated for her shocking form following that breakthrough triumph.
Many have accused her of being more interested in glitz and glamour than with tennis (and perhaps there was a little bit of truth to that at first). But she suffered terribly with injury last season, requiring foot and hand surgeries in a decimated campaign.
She looked solid on her return to action in Auckland, pushing the in-form Svitolina to three sets in defeat. She then lost narrowly to Wang in the second round of the Aussie Open. But she looked back to something resembling her best in her opener against Bouzkova, beating a player ranked inside the top 100 in the world for the first time in 11 months.
Verdict: Radacanu 9/10
This will be the first career meeting between these two- I really think Radacanu has the chance to score an upset win here. She looked solid against Bouzkova, hitting solidly from both sides as she got to terms with the speedy surfaces. Jabeur hasn’t played much tennis of late and could still be smarting from that heavy defeat to Andreeva.
Maria Sakkari 52/100 | Sorana Cirstea 15/10
28-year-old Greek Maria Sakkari enjoyed a pretty schizophrenic 2023 campaign. She won only two Grand Slam matches all season, enduring a hat-trick of first-round losses from the French Open onwards. But she also picked up the biggest title of her career, breaking a long winless streak to claim the WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara.
She reached a WTA 500 final in Washington. The muscular Greek is fast becoming one of the more unpredictable players on tour. She never played any warm-up events going into Melbourne and it showed, as she slumped to a straight-sets defeat to Avanesyan in the second round.
This will be just her 3rd match of the season and I wonder if she will be feeling slightly rusty in the opening stages.
Sorana Cirstea will be thrilled with the way she outlasted Caroline Garcia in her opener. It was a brutal slugfest between two players who love to hit the ball flat and hard. It was a desperately needed victory for the Romanian, bringing to an end a six-match losing streak that extended into the end of 2023.
And I can understand why she ran out of steam towards the end of last year. She reached the quarterfinals of Indian Wells before reaching her first WTA 1000 semi-final in a decade in Miami. She then went on to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open to punctuate a busy campaign at the top level.
I honestly think she was gassed in the closing stages of the season. Her uncomplicated, flat-hitting should make her a dangerous opponent on these quick surfaces.
Verdict: Cirstea to win in straight sets at 31/10
Cirstea actually leads the head-to-head rivalry with Sakkari 2-1. Having said that, the Greek won when they last met in Cincinnati last year. I’m going for the bold straight-sets upset. Cirstea showed real grit to see off Garcia and I’m hoping that can kickstart her somewhat flagging campaign.
Sakkari is severely undercooked at present and Cirstea produced some stunning hardcourt performances last season. I think that Cirstea’s potent backhand is looking more reliable than Sakkari’s cannon of a forehand.
