Tennis Pick
Try our tennis pick for today. a beatifull match: Angelique Kerber vs Daria Kasatkina at WTA – SINGLES: Indian Wells (USA), hard.
Kerber and Kasatkina split the head-to-head by 2-2. Both of Kasatkina’s win over Kerber came in 2017 when the German was playing far from her best. In their last meeting, at Tokyo in 2017, Kerber defeated the Russian in straight sets. Kasatkina will make Kerber’s life harder with her athletic full-court coverage, but the former world #1 is still a big favorite to weather the storm.
Angelique Kerber News
Angelique Kerber put on yet another emphatic performance this fortnight, as she obliterated world #7 Caroline Garcia, 6-1 6-1, in a matter of 62 minutes. This win gives the German her third BNP Paribas Open quarterfinal, first since 2013.
With this win, Kerber has entered the quarterfinal stage or better in all the five tournaments she has participated this year, including a semifinal at the Australian Open, where she lost to Halep after having a couple of match points.
In her first tournament of the season, Kerber ended her 27-tournament title drought (dating back to 2016 US Open) by claiming the Sydney International, defeating Aussie #1 Ash Barty in the final. In the first round match at Sydney, Kerber saved two match points against Safarova.
To put in context the contrast of Kerber’s 2017 and 2018 form, the German scored a total of one Top-20 and ten Top-50 wins in the entire 2017. Less than three months into the 2018 season, she has already scored six Top-20 and 13 Top-50 wins.
Kerber has never won a Premier Mandatory title in her career or even reached a final of such tournaments for that matter. Her last (total- 3) Premier Mandatory semifinal came two years ago in 2016 at Miami.
Daria Kasatkina News
Daria Kasatkina, the newest member of the Top-20 group, continues to be a giant-slayer at the BNP Paribas Open. She has defeated two reigning slam champions, Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki, in back-to-back matches this fortnight.
With this run, the 20-year-old had advanced to her second Indian Wells quarterfinal, the first of which came just two years ago in 2016, when she defeated the former champion, Daniela Hantuchova in her career’s very first Indian Wells match.
After having a choppy start to the season (one win from three Australian tournaments), Kasatkina enjoyed two excellent weeks, at St. Petersburg where she reached the semifinal (defeating Wozniacki), and at Dubai where she defeated Muguruza in the semifinals but ended up as the runner-up.
Tennis Prediction: Angelique Kerber to win the match
Odds: 1.63
