An attractive second round match at the Aegon International at Eastbourne as Kristina Mladenovic will take on fourth seed Timea Bacsinszky. The Frenchwoman continues her quest for getting her first WTA title and she came very close a few weeks ago at the Ricoh Open. As for Bacsinszky, she is aiming to win her first WTA title on grass.
How they got here
This will be the first grass tournament for Bacsinszky after having a great run at the French Open where she reached the quarterfinals but lost to Kiki Bertens. Her best result this year was winning at Rabat where she defeated Marina Erakovic to win her fifth title. She also made it to the semifinals at Miami but lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The Swiss received a bye into the second round which means that this will be her first match on the grass of the season. Last year, Bacsinszky didn’t play a warm-up tournament prior Wimbledon, but still she got to the quarterfinals of that Grand Slam. That has been her best result on grass so far. This is the first time the Swiss plays at Eastbourne.
The first part of the year was not great for Mladenovic as she couldn’t seem to win more than two matches in a row. Her luck began to change at Strasbourg where she made it to the semifinals. At the French Open, she lost to Serena Williams in a very tight match in the third round. However, Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia conquered the doubles titles at Roland Garros. Her first grass tournament was at the Ricoh Open where she defeated Belinda Bencic to reach her first final of the year but lost in straight sets to Coco Vandeweghe.
Her last tournament was last week in the first edition of the Mallorca Open but didn’t manage to get through the first round where she lost to one of the best grass players, Sabine Lisicki. In her first round at the Aegon International, she scored a win over Yanina Wickmayer 7-6, 6-4.
Their History
This will be the first meeting between Mladenovic and Bacsinszky.
Match Analysis
First, and important factor could be the lack of matches of Bacsinszky but that could also help the Swiss as her opponent has declared she almost pulled from the Ricoh Open due fatigue. It’s unlikely that the Frenchwoman is still suffering from fatigue, plus she is already adjusted to the surface while the Swiss will play her debut match on grass tomorrow.
Kristina Mladenovic is a complete player, not only she has a powerful serve, but her forehand possesses a lot of speed and power and because of this she can achieve a lot of winners. As for Bacsinszky, she is a very fluid player and has a lot of variety. The Swiss is a baseliner and often relies on her great movement which allows her to regain advantage over her opponent when she finds herself in a difficult position
The contradictions begin at their most and least stables strokes. While Mladenovic often relies on her forehand, no matter where she is standing, her backhand is often her biggest weakness as it lacks solidity and precision. As for Bacsinszky her best shot is her backhand, but her forehand is often cited as her weakest shot because of her extremely closed grip and that causes her backhand to have an annoying topspin, but it is also the reason of many unforced errors.
Mladenovic is a skillful doubles player and that helps her game on the net where she usually finishes rallies or attacks her opponent. Because of her height, Mladenovic’s movement is not the best and that usually gets her in trouble with players who own great footwork like Bacsinszky. As for the Swiss she will need to be very consistent on her serve which can be very efficient but unlike the Frenchwoman, it won’t help her in stressful situations.
Prediction: Timea Bacsinszky in three sets
