Madrid Open 2022: Maria Sakkari vs Daria Kasatkina preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick

Match details

Fixture: (4) Maria Sakkari vs Daria Kasatkina

Date: 1 May 2022

Tournament: Madrid Open 2022

Round: Second round (Round of 32)

Venue: Madrid, Spain

Category: WTA 1000

Surface: Clay

Prize money: $6,575,560

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video

Maria Sakkari vs Daria Kasatkina preview

Maria Sakkari at the 2022 Mutua Madrid Open.

Fourth seed Maria Sakkari will take on World No. 23 Daria Kasatkina in the second round of the 2022 Madrid Open on Sunday.

Sakkari kicked off her campaign in Madrid with a tough three-set win over Madison Keys. Both players held serve throughout the opening set, resulting in a tie-break. The Greek wasted the solitary set point she had, while Keys needed three of her own to clinch the opener.

Sakkari secured a break of serve in the sixth game of the second set and held on to that advantage to take the match to a decider. Keys jumped to a 2-0 lead in the final set, but the World No. 5 soon leveled the score. The American lost serve to trail 3-4, but immediately broke Sakkari in the next game to even the score at 4-4.

Keys led 40-0 on her own serve in the next game, but lost the next five points to get broken. Sakkari then held serve to complete a 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-4 win.

Daria Kasatkina at the 2022 Indian Wells Open.

Daria Kasatkina also needed to stage a comeback to advance to the second round. Up against Anna Bondar, she led 4-2 in the opening set. However, she dropped the next four games.

Kasatkina raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set, but Bondar clawed her way back into the match and leveled the score at 4-4. However, the Russian piled on the pressure as her opponent served to stay in the match at 5-4. She secured a break of serve and won the set.

Bondar took a 3-1 lead in the deciding set, but couldn't hold on to her advantage. Kasatkina reeled off the final five games of the match to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Maria Sakkari vs Daria Kasatkina head-to-head

Kasatkina leads Sakkari 3-0 in the head-to-head. She won their last encounter at the 2018 Canadian Open in three sets.

Maria Sakkari vs Daria Kasatkina odds

Player	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games (Over & Under)
Maria Sakkari	-225	+1.5 (-550)	Over 21.5 (-105)
Daria Kasatkina	+170	-1.5 (+330)	Under 21.5 (-135)

All odds are sourced from BetMGM.

Maria Sakkari vs Daria Kasatkina prediction

While Kasatkina has a winning record against Sakkari so far, a lot has changed since their previous meeting. Their career trajectories have gone in different directions since 2018, with Sakkari steadily rising up the ranks and Kasatkina struggling for consistency

Sakkari hit just 14 winners, compared to 49 unforced errors in her opening match. The Greek will need to fine-tune her aggressive brand of tennis if she is to defeat Kasatkina on Sunday. Some patience will allow Sakkari to extend rallies if needed and avoid unforced errors.

While Kasatkina hits with considerably less power than her opponent, she is much more versatile. She uses the dimensions of the court quite well to move her opponent from side to side, preventing them from settling into a rhythm.

Kasatkina's style of play could frustrate Sakkari, but the Greek is in better form and should be able to egde this one.

Pick: Maria Sakkari to win in straight sets.

About the author

Rohit is a journalist at Sportskeeda who specializes in covering tennis. Having been with the company for four years, he has proven himself as a formidable force in the field. With a Master's degree in law, Rohit brings his analytical and research skills to the forefront as a journalist. He stays on top of the game by using social media platforms and never misses a match for on-court insights. He values giving credit where it's due, keeping his reporting fair and accurate.

At the outset of his career, Rohit found his niche in writing previews and SEO pieces and it's this expertise that continues to define his role at Sportskeeda. He is particularly proud of one article that garnered an impressive 750k views and surpassed his "wildest dreams." Rohit is not particularly fond of (GOAT) debates and it is one of the reasons why he left the legal world behind. He prefers to view players in "tiers," where they're all esteemed to an extent. However, if pressed to name favorites, he would choose Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters' journey from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of tennis has been his greatest source of inspiration.

When he isn't busy making spot-on predictions about match outcomes, Rohit likes reading, particularly fantasy, sci-fi, and comics. As an X-Men fanatic, he's also passionate about board games and enjoys watching movies in his spare time. And don't be surprised if you catch him silently wishing to the tennis gods for the removal of ad scoring from doubles.

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Edited by Keshav Gopalan