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She has already played two three-set matches this week (one each in the singles and doubles events), and it will be interesting to see if that becomes a factor in the match against Muchova.

As expected, Muchová started the tournament strongly after she dispatched Montenegrin Danka Kovinić in straight sets.

The first set proved to be the closer of the two sets. After a slow start, Muchová found herself 4–2 down when Kovinić capitalized on her only break point of the set. Muchova won the next four games, including breaking her opponent twice, to cap the set off magnificently 6–4.

Kasatkina has been going through a bit of a poor patch, one that saw her drop out of the top 50 in the world rankings. She will be looking for a good start to the new season.

Karolina Muchova scored a solid straight-sets win over Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic on Thursday to move into the second round of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Women’s Tennis Open.

The 12th seed at the season-opening tournament, Muchova has been on a steady upward graph over the last two years but is yet to find her big breakthrough win. A deep run in a star-studded field could set her up well ahead of the Australian Open that is slated to be played in February.

However, she faces a tough task ahead as former top 10 player Daria Kasatkina awaits her in the next round.

The two have never faced each other in a competitive match before. This will be the first-ever encounter between the 24-year-old Czech, Muchová, and the 23-year-old Russian, Kasatkina.

The Czech player’s game, which is based on flat groundstrokes and efficiency at the net, is tailor-made for the hardcourts of Abu Dhabi. She showed her ability to win quick points in her first-round encounter, and that would have helped her save energy for a potentially lengthy match.

Kasatkina will definitely look to turn the match into a physical affair, trying to expose the weaknesses in her opponent’s baseline defence. And that’s where Muchova will need to be a little careful; she can’t afford to let Kasatkina dictate too much.

If the Czech can find a way to continue her effective approaches and aggressive play, she should be able to weather the Kasatkina onslaught.

With the wind in her sails, the second set proved to be one-way traffic. After Kovinić took the second set’s first game, Muchová won the next six games, including breaking Kovinić thrice and saving the only break point she faced to win the set 6–1.

With such performances, the 24-year-old can not only expect to reach the later stages of this tournament but to also break into the top 20 for the first time in her career; something that her second-round opponent knows too well about.

While Daria Kasatkina might have a slight edge when it comes to experience, Karolina Muchova is definitely the better player in the given conditions.

This will be the first time that Karolina Muchova and Daria Kasatkina cross paths on the senior tour, so their current head-to-head stands at a 0–0 deadlock.

Kasatkina is best known for her exploits on clay. While she does have a couple of big hardcourt titles, they have only come at her home tournament and that too at the back end of the year.

Unfortunately for the Russian, she hasn’t yet been unable to solve the early-season puzzle.

The warm conditions in Abu Dhabi won’t do her any favors either. Kasatkina plays a very physical brand of tennis, putting in her full effort into every shot, and that sort of game could be hard to maintain in such extreme heat.

The two may both have had recently mixed fortunes in the past two years, but after great starts in this tournament, I’d expect a close tie in this one with both raring to go at each other. The value, therefore, seems in anticipating a large number of games between the two; or, alternatively, for the winner to have to prove herself in a third set.

Facing a former top 15 player in Qiang Wang, Kasatkina — a former top 15 player herself — showed glimpses of her past form as she edged the three-set clash.

Two break points were all she needed to take the first set 6–3, in a set that she thoroughly controlled, winning more than twice as many points as Wang in that set.

The second set was an entertaining affair. Kasatkina failed to convert her only two break points but managed to save three of the four break points that she faced. However, Wang’s sole converted break point proved crucial in giving her the set.

The third set looked like it had slipped from the Russian’s grasp when she went 2–0 down. However, she won all of the next six games in a row, which included three converted break points, to take the set 6–2.

With such grit and tenacity, Kasatkina should strongly be favored as she heads into this second-round tie.

World №292 Gasanova has been a sporadic presence on the WTA tour but is a mainstay at ITF events. With three wins in three consecutive days in Abu Dhabi, she will look to notch up a big win at the expense of the World №3 on Saturday.

Pliskova will be her toughest challenge yet but with youth on her side, she would love to get out to the middle and play a fearless brand of tennis.

Pliskova does, however, come into the 2021 season on the back of an underwhelming year. The 28-year-old defended her crown in Brisbane last year but only made one final for the rest of the season — in Rome. She finished the season as World №3 only due to the frozen rankings system.

Armed with a new coach in Sascha Bajin, Pliskova will look to gain momentum going into the Australian Open next month. The next hurdle she has to cross in Abu Dhabi is that of Russian player Anastasia Gasanova.

The second set turned out to be a lot harder for Pliskova though with her 27-year-old Greek opponent refusing to relent too easily. First Pliskova failed get any breaks of serve till the eighth game of the set, and then she was broken as she tried to serve for the match at 5–3.

It was after 81 minutes and a tie-breaker in the second set that Pliskova finally managed to break her opponent’s resistance and convert it into a victory.

While rustiness would have been a definite reason for the manner of her win, Pliskova has suffered a bit of a tapering off of her form in recent times.

She gets a second chance at getting past a player ranked way away from her and will want to make a better fist of it to give herself the necessary confidence for sterner tests ahead.

Third seed Karolina Pliskova takes on qualifier Anastasia Gasanova in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Women’s Tennis Open 2021 on Saturday.

Former World №1 Pliskova got her season off to a flier on Thursday by defeating Despina Papamichail in straight sets.

The Czech player usually starts her season well, and she will look to build on her first round win and mount a title challenge at the new WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi.

The former world number one Pliskova has bolstered her coaching set-up in the lead-up to this season and facing a player 278th in the world, her new team would have expected to steamroll Despina Papamichail in her opening round encounter.