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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
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 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
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.
