American and world number four Sofia Kenin has a chance to drill home the advantage over Ons Jabeur when they face off in the third round of the 2021 Miami Open on Sunday, March 28. Get the live streaming options of this Sofia Kenin v Ons Jabeur match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Sofia Kenin v Ons Jabeur Head to Head
This has been a long but one-sided rivalry between these Kenin and Jabeur. At the WTA level, they have met four times and Kenin leads 4-0, including twice last season at the Grand Slam level. Kenin defeated Jabeur in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open en route her title win and then brushed past her in the third round of the US Open later that season.
Before that, they had also played each other twice on the ITF circuit and it’s 1-1 there.
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Kenin Takes the Long Route
Kenin was 1/3 to win her second round match against Andrea Petkovic but she sure made it very tough on herself before finally clinching that third round berth. Not playing her best tennis, Kenin came through 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-3 to set up a meeting with her Tunisian opponent the round of 32.
The American, who had earlier gotten knocked out of the Australian Open in the second round and then lost her first match at the Phillip Island Trophy that followed, was slow off the blocks as she lost her serve in the third game of the opening set.
A break-back followed soon after in the sixth game, and a few easy holds for both players later, the set went into a tie-breaker. Kenin fought back from 5-2 down there to get it back at 5-5, then saved one set-point but was unable to save the second to lose the set.
Shrugging that loss off, Kenin then broke her opponent thrice in the second set to level the proceedings, before exchanging a break of serves in the third to get to 4-3. It was at this stage that Kenin’s ability to up her game under pressure that took over and she first broke Petkovic before completing the win by serving it out to 30.
Can she take her form from the final two sets of her second round win into this match against Jabeur?
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And Jabeur Takes the Longer One…
If Kenin’s three-set win was a difficult way to get to the third round for her, Jabeur needed a lot more from her reserves to make it there. The world number 30 was stretched to the distance by Paula Badosa, needing two hours and 36 minutes and surviving eight breaks of serves in the match to make it to the third round.
Such was the tight nature of the contest, both players were broken the same number of times, both players won 44 points on their own first serve and 18 points on the second serve. Even more interestingly, Jabeur won five lesser points on return than Badosa but she won the points that mattered and in the end that’s where the match turned on its head.
Badosa was twice up a break in the final set, only for Jabeur to break back including once while the Spaniard served for the match, before the Tunisian took advantage of her opponent’s nerves to break her again at 5-6 in the third.
Kenin v Jabeur Prediction and Tip
Kenin is 8/13 to win this and given her record against Jabeur and the fact that the Tunisian herself has had her issues recently, we are backing the American to come through here.
Tip: Kenin to win: 8/13 (bet365)
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The 2021 Miami Open will be played from March 22 to April 4. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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