- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
| Match: In Play | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|
| T. Zidansek (SLO) | 7 | 4 |
| D. Gavrilova (AUS) | 5 | 1 |
| Completed Sets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Set won by T. Zidansek | 7 - 5 | T. Zidansek leads 1 to 0 |
Show Preview
Daria Gavrilova will be out to begin a new Australian Open campaign on the front foot when she takes on the little-known Tamara Zidansek in the first round. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from around 2:15pm (AEDT).
Known as ‘Dasha,’ Gavrilova is a crowd favourite in Australia and will be looking to make up for lost time last summer.
A second-round exit in a game which didn’t start until almost midnight wasn’t the script Gavrilova would have written last year, and all of her grand slam performances for the rest of the year were well below what might have been otherwise expected.
While the grand slam performances weren’t great, it was something of a year to forget for Gavrilova, as the Australian slipped outside the top 40 in the world. After being seeded throughout the big tournaments last year, she will have to fight her way with tough draws for the first part of 2019.
The draw at Melbourne Park has smiled favourably on her though, getting a youngster ranked 78 in the world from Slovenia in Zidansek for the first round.
Dasha will be more concerned by her form though, with a pair of first-round straight-set losses in Brisbane and Sydney to Anastasija Sevastova and Yulia Putintseva respectively.
Her opponent, who is still trying to make a name for herself on the WTA tour, has also kicked off her season with a pair of losses, in qualifying at Auckland and the first round of the Sydney International.
The loss to Viktoria Kuzmova will concern her greatly, because it’s players like Kuzmova that Zidansek needs to be beating on a regular basis. The loss to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in Sydney was a little more expected, but the nature of a 6-1 beatdown in the second set won’t leave her with confidence heading to Melbourne.
Prediction
If Gavrilova doesn’t win this, something will have gone very badly wrong. Zidansek will fight, but at the end of the day, there is a huge class difference between the pair.
Gavrilova in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the match from around 2:15pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Hide Preview