Adelaide 2020: Monday's Order of Play and Match Points

MATCH POINTS

No.4 seed Belinda Bencic resumes a rivalry stretching back into junior days with fellow 22-year-old and leading Class of 1997 member Daria Kasatkina. Bencic won both of their junior meetings on clay in 2013, but at pro level Kasatkina leads 2-1, with all three matches taking place on Russian indoor hard courts: Bencic took their 2016 St Petersburg semifinal 6-4, 6-3, but lost in the first round of Moscow the same year 6-4, 6-1 and St Petersburg the following year 6-2, 7-5. Both players' careers have undergone several fluctuations: those last two matches took place as an injury-beset Bencic was sliding from the Top 10 out of the Top 100 while Kasatkina was consolidating her Top 30 position, but now it is the Swiss player who sits one spot off her career high at World No.8 and Kasatkina who has sunk to World No.70.

Anastasija Sevastova holds a dominant 5-0 head-to-head over Donna Vekic, including four previous outdoor hardcourt meetings. Vekic has won just two sets in the series, stretching Sevastova to 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 in the second round of Kaohsiung 2016 and 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the first round of the 2018 US Open; in their other three meetings (the third round of the 2017 US Open, the first round of Doha 2018 and the third round of Beijing 2018), Sevastova did not lose more than four games in any set.

No.8 seed Marketa Vondrousova returns to action for the first time since Wimbledon after being sidelined for six months due to wrist surgery. The Roland Garros finalist defeated lucky loser Tatjana Maria 6-4, 6-3 in their only prior encounter, in the fourth round of Miami last year.

Anett Kontaveit is 3-1 against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova overall, but the pair are 1-1 on hardcourts, with Kontaveit taking their first meeting 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the 2015 US Open and Pavlyuchenkova avenging the loss 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of Indian Wells 2017. Following those matches, the Estonian captured two clay encounters in consecutive years in Stuttgart, taking their 2018 quarterfinal 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-4 and their 2019 second round 6-3, 6-2.

Qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich won her only previous meeting with last year's Australian Open semifinalist Danielle Collins 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of Madrid 2018.

Brisbane semifinalist Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from the tournament, with Angelique Kerber moving into Kvitova's draw position as the No.9 seed. This means that Kerber will play Wang Qiang for the first time today, and her original opponent Sloane Stephens will face qualifier Arina Rodionova.

ORDER OF PLAY (all courts start 11am except Match Court 3)

CENTRE COURT
[Q] Yulia PUTINTSEVA (KAZ) vs [WC] Ajla TOMLJANOVIC (AUS)
After 3 ATP matches, not before 8pm
WANG Qiang (CHN) vs [9] Angelique KERBER (GER)

SHOW COURT
After 1 ATP match
[4/WC] Belinda BENCIC (SUI) vs [Q] Daria KASATKINA (RUS)
Not before 2pm
[Q] Viktorija GOLUBIC (SUI) vs [7] Sofia KENIN (USA)
Dayana YASTREMSKA (UKR) vs [LL] Timea BABOS (HUN)

MATCH COURT 1
Anastasija SEVASTOVA (LAT) vs Donna VEKIC (CRO)
Danielle COLLINS (USA) vs [Q] Aliaksandra SASNOVICH (BLR)

MATCH COURT 2
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) vs Anett KONTAVEIT (EST)

MATCH COURT 3 (starts 12 noon)
Priscilla HON (AUS) / Arina RODIONOVA (AUS) vs Tatjana MARIA (GER) / Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS)
Simona HALEP (ROU) / Raluca OLARU (ROU) vs [2] Kveta PESCHKE (CZE) / Demi SCHUURS (NED)