Maria Sakkari vs Anastasia Potapova: Don't expect a protracted match

Anastasia Potapova has a powerful opponent in the first round of the women's tennis tournament in St Petersburg. The Greek Maria Sakkari is number eight in the WTA rankings and the first ranked player in the tournament, who the bookmakers have naturally made the clear favourite for the upcoming game.

The Greek played two tournaments in Australia in January 2022. First, it was a competition in Adelaide and afterwards, the Australian Open. In Adelaide, the Greek defeated Zidanšek but was weaker than Rogers. In the season, Sakkari knocked Maria, Jen and Kudermetova out of the net but was stopped by Pegula in two sets. Despite her high ranking in the WTA rankings, Sakkari has won just one tournament in her career, on the ground in Morocco in 2019.

Potapova has been very active at the start of the season. Anastasia has played three tournaments in Melbourne, Adelaide, and the Australian Open. She played a total of seven matches, three of which she lost, including her first at the AO against Camila Giorgi, who incidentally came to St. Petersburg for the tournament. Potapova is playing more or less well, but there are doubts that she will fight against one of the strongest tennis players in the world.

Maria and Anastasia have met twice, first in Miami in 2017 and then in Abu Dhabi in January 2021. The score is 1-1, but a year ago, the Greek had a convincing win over the Russian, and during that time, Sakkari has not become weaker. We haven't noticed any progress in Anastasia's game. The only thing on the Potapova side in St. Petersburg is spectator support. We propose the following bets: ТU (19.5) for 1.90, ТU (19.5) for 1.74, Handicap 1 (-6.5) for 2.49.