MATCH POINTS
A popcorn second-round match pits No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka against 16-year-old prodigy Coco Gauff, who will bid for her third career Top 20 victory following wins over Kiki Bertens in Linz last year and Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open in January. Since the start of 2018, Sabalenka - who is on a six-match winning streak after winning Doha in February - has a 7-7 record against players younger than her.

Former World No.35 Olga Govortsova is aiming to reach her first WTA quarterfinal as a mother, and first since Tashkent 2014. The Belarusian qualifier gave birth to son Dominic in February 2018, returned to the sport in August that year - and is now on an eight-match winning streak in Kentucky: her penultimate tournament before the WTA Tour pause was a title run in the Nicholasville ITF W100 event in February. Overall, Govortsova owns a 15-3 win-loss record in 2020 so far.

# 1
-
Points 9416
Aryna
Sabalenka
BLR
Rank Player Points
20 -
V. Azarenka
BLR
2127
144 -
A. Sasnovich
BLR
516
208 1
A. Falei
BLR
337
238 1
I. Shymanovich
BLR
301

Rankings as of 2024/12/23

Govortsova also has a 1-0 record against No.8 seed Ons Jabeur, having defeated the Tunisian 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of the 2017 Indian Harbour Beach ITF W80 event en route to the title - the fifth tournament before she began her maternity leave. Jabeur is bidding for her third quarterfinal of the season, having reached the last eight of the Australian Open and Doha already.

Fellow 1998-born players Marie Bouzkova and Anna Blinkova meet for the second time today. Blinkova was a 6-3, 6-1 victor in their previous encounter in last year's Guangzhou quarterfinals - a result that sealed the Russian's maiden WTA semifinal place.

No.6 seed Magda Linette trails Jennifer Brady 1-2 in their head-to-head. The Pole was the winner of their first meeting, 2-6 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the 2018 Australian Open, but Brady has since hit back to take their 2018 Southsea ITF W100 quarterfinal 6-4, 6-3 and their 2019 Cincinnati qualifying clash 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

ORDER OF PLAY (all courts start 11am)

CENTER COURT
[8] Ons JABEUR (TUN) vs [Q] Olga GOVORTSOVA (BLR)
Anna BLINKOVA (RUS) vs Marie BOUZKOVA (CZE)
Coco GAUFF (USA) vs [2] Aryna SABALENKA (BLR)
[6] Magda LINETTE (POL) vs Jennifer BRADY (USA)

COURT 2
Kaitlyn CHRISTIAN (USA) / Giuliana OLMOS (MEX) vs Robin ANDERSON (USA) / Erin ROUTLIFFE (NZL)
[1] Alexa GUARACHI (CHI) / Desirae KRAWCZYK (USA) vs Oksana KALASHNIKOVA (GEO) / Alla KUDRYAVTSEVA (RUS)
Emina BEKTAS (USA) / Tara MOORE (GBR) vs [WC] Bethanie MATTEK-SANDS (USA) / Sloane STEPHENS (USA)
Bernarda PERA (USA) / Arina RODIONOVA (AUS) vs Anna BLINKOVA (RUS) / Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS)
[WC] Gabriela TALABA (ROU) / Caitlin WHORISKEY (USA) vs Jamie LOEB (USA) / Ingrid NEEL (USA)

“Playing it safe wasn’t working“: Coco Gauff