The #Wimbledon mood is kicking in and the main draw action starts tomorrow! With the bottom half of the women’s draw starting play first, let us take a look at the must-watch matches on the first Monday of the tournament.
Venus Williams vs [Q] Cori Gauff
#CoriGauff rewrote the record books when she dominated the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw of Wimbledon for the first time in her career at the age of 15 years and 122 days old. This allowed the American youngster to become the youngest qualifier in its open era history. Having always idolised the Williams sisters, Gauff got what she wanted when the draw was released on Friday — a meeting with Venus Williams on Court 1.
#VenusWilliams, currently 39-years young, is 24 years senior of her opponent. This is the definition of experience versus youth as the five-time Wimbledon champion will look to exert her dominance over the surging force on the tour. This is, unsurprisingly, their first meeting on tour but this will also be Gauff’s biggest test in her career on one of the biggest stages in the sport.
Mind you that Gauff has failed to win a set in her previous meetings against a top-100 player (Peterson and Kasatkina) this year, and considering that this is Williams’ favoured surface, a straight-sets win should not be out of question. Assuming it is not a beatdown scoreline, this should be a pleasant experience for Gauff taking the court with an idol.
Prediction: V.Williams d. Gauff in straight sets
[28] Hsieh Su-wei vs Jelena Ostapenko
#JelenaOstapenko comes into Wimbledon knowing that she needs a very good result to keep her ranking afloat in the top-50. Having reached the semifinals last year, the Latvian will need to replicate that result otherwise a dip in her ranking is ensured. Moreover, a first-round exit will only be adding salt into the wound as she will most likely drop out of the top-70.
As she desperately needed wins, lady luck just had to go straight against her. She was handed a tough first-round test against 28th seed #HsiehSuwei, who seems to be a huge headache for every top player. Hsieh won their only previous meeting which came at the 2016 Australian Open and her funky game surprisingly works well on grass, having reached the fourth round at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Ostapenko just managed to reach her first quarterfinal of the year in Birmingham where she blew five match points against Martic, but was forced to retire in Eastbourne due to a worrying left hip injury which visibly impaired her movement around the court. Hsieh comes into the match as the favourite but if Ostapenko were to be healthy, we can just never count her out.
Prediction: Hsieh d. Ostapenko in three sets
Magdalena Rybarikova vs [10] Aryna Sabalenka
There could not be a more contrasting playing style between #MagdalenaRybarikova and #ArynaSabalenka. Rybarikova, who had a breakthrough Wimbledon semifinal run in 2017, always managed to serve up thrillers with her crafty tennis which consisted of out-of-the-world dropshots and net play. However, after struggling with her health and her game, the Slovakian had fallen to 141st in the rankings as a result of her failure to defend her Birmingham final points earlier this year.
Her opponent Sabalenka has also been struggling this year, though she managed to get some momentum entering Wimbledon with a quarterfinal run at the Nature Valley International. The Belarusian’s explosive game suits grass but her confidence was at rock bottom after a frustrating stretch of results which saw her go winless in a couple of tournaments.
This tournament would be extremely important for both players — a golden opportunity for Rybarikova to excel on grass once again, and make a last push up the rankings before she needs to enter Grand Slams through the qualifying rounds. Sabalenka could also attempt to gather more rankings points before she starts to defend a bulk of points in the latter half of the year.
Sabalenka should not face much of an issue against a low-confidence, out-of-form Rybarikova and is the favourite in this clash. The Belarusian will still have to be wary of the former semifinalist, though, but she should be able to prevail in straight sets.
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