Abu Dhabi 2021: Saturday's Order of Play and Match Points

ORDER OF PLAY

CENTRE COURT -- 10:00 a.m. start
WANG Xiyu (CHN) vs. [6] Elena RYBAKINA (KAZ)
[Q] Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS) vs. [3] Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE)
Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) vs. [2] Elina SVITOLINA (UKR)
Aliaksandra SASNOVICH (BLR) vs. [5] Garbiñe MUGURUZA (ESP)
[9] Maria SAKKARI (GRE) vs. Coco GAUFF (USA)

COURT 1 -- 10:00 a.m. start
HSIEH Su-wei (TPE) vs. Marta KOSTYUK (UKR)
Not before 12:00 PM
[17] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS) vs. Heather WATSON (GBR)
After suitable rest
[1] HSIEH Su-wei (TPE) / Barbora KREJCIKOVA (CZE) vs. Sharon FICHMAN (CAN) / Giuliana OLMOS (MEX)
After suitable rest
Laura SIEGEMUND (GER) / Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) vs. Sara SORRIBES TORMO (ESP) / Nadia PODOROSKA (ARG)

COURT 2 -- 10:00 a.m. start
Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS) / Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS) vs. [3] Nicole MELICHAR (USA) / Demi SCHUURS (NED)
Not before 11:00 AM
Jasmine PAOLINI (ITA) / Martina TREVISAN (ITA) vs. Arantxa RUS (NED) / Tamara ZIDANSEK (SLO)
Sofia KENIN (USA) / Ajla TOMLJANOVIC (AUS) vs. [7] XU Yifan (CHN) / YANG Zhaoxuan (CHN)
After suitable rest
[8] Hayley CARTER (USA) / Luisa STEFANI (BRA) vs. Daria KASATKINA (RUS) / Anett KONTAVEIT (EST)

MATCH POINTS

No.2 seed Elina Svitolina will square off against Vera Zvonareva for the first time on Saturday at the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open. Svitolina is aiming to extend her successful history at events in the Middle East: the World No.5 won back-to-back titles in Dubai in 2017 and 2018, and she also made the Doha semifinals in 2019.

Currently ranked World No.164, Zvonareva is a former World No.2 who made the championship match at the WTA Finals in 2008, as well as consecutive Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010.

No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova will meet 292nd-ranked qualifier Anastasia Gasanova for the first time. World No.6 Pliskova has not lost to a player ranked outside the Top 50 in over a year. Her last loss to a player ranked outside the Top 50 came when she fell to then-World No.73 Jelena Ostapenko at 2019 Beijing.

21-year-old Gasanova made her WTA main-draw debut this week, and claimed her first Tour-level victory over former Top 25 player Mona Barthel in straight sets.

No.5 seed Garbine Muguruza will also be facing Aliaksandra Sasnovich for the first time on Saturday. Muguruza opened last season by posting an 11-2 record in January, which included a run to her fourth Grand Slam singles final at the Australian Open.

90th-ranked Sasnovich, who has a career-high ranking of World No.30, is bidding for her 15th career Top 20 victory today over World No.15 Muguruza.

No.9 seed Maria Sakkari faces Coco Gauff in their second-round encounter. In their lone prior meeting, Sakkari defeated Gauff 6-1, 6-3, in the first round of the Western & Southern Open last year, which took place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

No.17 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and Heather Watson have split their two previous meetings, but this will be their first clash at WTA main-draw level. Alexandrova was one of four first-time singles titlists on the WTA last season, triumphing at Shenzhen. Last year's other first-time singles titlists were Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros), Jennifer Brady (Lexington), and Patricia Maria Tig
(Istanbul).