World No. 32 Elise Mertens meets 57th Lauren Davis picks in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open on Thursday 19 January.
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Elise Mertens vs. Lauren Davis head to head
Mertens and Davis have never faced each other in a competitive match before.
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Mertens picks up deficit to send Muguruza wrap
Garbine Muguruza hadn’t exuded much confidence in her opening match at the tournament after discussing how she was going to try and upset some of the other top players.
As it turned out, she wanted to take on Mertens, a world No. 32 to Muguruza’s 73rd place on the WTA charts, and again she fell in the opener.
This was the fourth straight Muguruza losing a first-round game and ten since the start of the 2022 season. This time it was Mertens who came back from behind to take the win.
Mertens, who was not in the best form herself, won 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 against Muguruza in a match lasting two hours and 33 minutes. At one point in the second set, Muguruza served 6-5 for the match, but her inability to hold serve cost her dearly.
With Mertens managing an early win here, blocking her own poor form, it will be interesting to see if that gives her some confidence against her unseeded opponent in the second round.
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Davis makes eight straight wins
Davis was forced to play in WTA Hobart qualifiers after being eliminated in the second round at the Auckland Open. It didn’t seem to have bothered her too much as she clinched seven straight wins to clinch the title there, all of which came in straight sets.
That’s why she went into the opening game as a favorite against Danka Kovinic, but at the same time there were question marks about her fitness. After all, Davis had played seven matches in eight days and going to court three days later would have been a challenge.
That’s how it looked when Kovinic ran through the first set and then broke in the second set to take a 4-3 lead.
Davis wasn’t done, however, as she broke right back and then again in the 12th game of the set to even the scores. And after finding her rhythm, Davis drove past her opponent for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 win in two hours and 24 minutes.
Can she test the former world No. 12 now?
Mertens v Davis prediction and tip
Mertens is a favorite on paper but in form we’ll have to tip that in favor of Davis who has won a few games lately. Again, the only concern is how Davis’ physique will hold up to playing games on consecutive days, having previously appeared in seven games in eight days.
tips:
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