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Match details
Fixture: (9) Danielle Collins vs (Q) Marketa Vondrousova
Tournament: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2022
Round: First round (Round of 32)
Venue: Dubai, UAE
Category: WTA 500
Surface: Outdoor Hardcourt
Match timing: Approx. 5 pm local time, 1 pm GMT, 8 am ET, 6.30 pm IST
Prize money: $703,580
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Danielle Collins vs Marketa Vondrousova preview
Ninth seed Danielle Collins will open her Dubai campaign against Czech qualifier Marketa Vondrousova on Tuesday.
This will be Collins' first match since finishing as the runner-up at the Australian Open. The American showed tremendous poise in beating some quality players such as Iga Swiatek and Elise Mertens on her way to the final in Melbourne.
Collins' Melbourne Park heroics also helped her break into the top 10 for the first time in her career, making her the No. 1 American woman. The 28-year-old will now be hoping to bring her momentum into the Middle Eastern swing, which starts with Dubai this week.
Vondrousova, meanwhile, had a strong second half of the season last year. She reached the final at the Tokyo Olympics, before making the semifinals of Luxembourg, Chicago and Moscow.
But the World No. 38 has failed to make much noise in the new season. Vondrousova has managed to win consecutive matches in only one out of three events so far, the Australian Open. She stretched second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the third round at Melbourne before running out of steam in the decider.
The former French Open runner-up has had to play the qualifying rounds this week in Dubai to make it to the main draw. But that has an upside; with wins over Ena Shibahara, Claire Liu and Yulia Putintseva, Vondrousova would have got fully acclimatized to the conditions already.
Danielle Collins vs Marketa Vondrousova head-to-head
Marketa Vondrousova has a 1-0 lead over Danielle Collins in the head-to-head. The Czech won their only previous encounter, in Chicago last year, by a margin of 6-7(4), 6-0, 7-6(3).
Danielle Collins vs Marketa Vondrousova prediction
Marketa Vondrousova's serve has looked a little out of sorts this week in Dubai. She has leaked a total of 25 double faults in her three qualifying matches, with her first serve percentage never going above 55%.
Danielle Collins won't hesitate to pounce on the second serve whenever she gets a look. The American likes to plant herself inside the baseline while returning, in a bid to take the ball as early as possible.
Collins had a lot of success on second-serve returns throughout her Australian Open campaign. In fact, she won a whopping 86% of those points against Iga Swiatek in the semifinals.
Vondrousova, on her part, would look to use her array of dropshots to disrupt her opponent's rhythm. But Collins dealt fairly well with Barty's slices and dropshots in the Australian Open final, so the Czech is unlikely to gain too big of an advantage with this tactic.
If Collins serves well and keeps her unforced errors in check, she should be able to quell Vondrousova's challenge on Tuesday.
Prediction: Danielle Collins to win in three sets.
