Damien Kayat previews Veronika Kudermetova vs Marketa Vondrousova and Caroline Garcia vs Leylah Fernanadez in selected 2nd Round Matches of the Wimbledon Championships, on the 6th of June 2023.
2023 WTA Tour
Grand Slam Tennis
Wimbledon Championships
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
Selected 2nd Round Matches – 6th June
Veronika Kudermetova 4/7 | Marketa Vondrousova 27/20
This promises to be a fascinating 2nd round clash at this year’s rain-interrupted Wimbledon Championships. Russian Veronika Kudermetova quickly turned into the hipster dark horse option this year after a really encouraging grass-court campaign.
She reached the final of the Libema Open (going down to fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in a nail-biting three-set affair). She then thrashed pre-tournament favourite Aryna Sabalenka in Berlin.
That performance has really raised her profile ahead of this year’s event. And it’s easy to see why she plays so well on grass. She has a big serve and tends to favour aggressive, concise tennis.
Her first-round victory over Kaia Kanepi extended her 2023 grass-court record to 7-2 (one of those defeats being a walkover in Berlin). But can she live up to the hype this week? She lost in the 2nd round of this year’s Aussie Open and was dumped out of the 1st round at Roland Garros.
She clearly has what it takes to compete with the best (she reached the quarterfinals of last year’s French Open). But it’s always a little different when you are the fancied player in a Grand Slam draw.
24-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova is arguably the most dangerous unseeded player in this year’s draw. The former junior World Number One just hasn’t been able to catch a break with injuries.
She was sidelined for six months after winning her first WTA match in 2016. She was then forced to miss another six months due to a wrist issue after her herculean run to the Roland Garros final in 2019.
And she was forced to miss yet another six months last year due to an unrelated left-wrist issue! But she is a dangerous player who has what it takes to beat anyone on her day.
Lest we forget, the former Grand Slam finalist is also an Olympic Silver Medalist: she knows how to pitch up in big events. And she has shown signs of her best tennis this year, reaching back-to-back 4th rounds during the ‘Sunshine Double’.
The Czech lefty is not quite as aggressive as Kudermetova, often employing more of a counterpunching style and relying on one of the best drop-shots in the business.
That drop-shot could be key to destabilizing the hard-hitting Russian. She saw off American youngster Peyton Stearns with relative ease in her first-round match and I think she will feel quietly confident of an upset here.
Verdict: Vondrousova to win in three at 16/5
The pair share a 1-1 head-to-head record. Kudermetova won in Indian Wells last year but Vondrousova breezed past the Russian at this year’s Miami Open. I think Vondrousova’s tricky, lefty style is not ideally suited to the Russian.
The Czech will often force the Russian to generate her own pace and this could lead to errors. I also think that drop-shot will be a massive factor on these low-bouncing courts.
Caroline Garcia 2/5 | Leylah Fernanadez 19/10
5th seed Caroline Garcia is really one of the hardest players to gauge coming into this year’s tournament. With her power and ability, she should theoretically go into every tournament as one of the favourites.
This was highlighted by her mesmerizing form on the hardcourts toward the end of last year (culminating in that brilliant WTA Finals victory). But she hasn’t been able to recapture that form this year.
She reached two pretty humdrum finals in Lyon and Monterrey. But she has largely underwhelmed on the bigger stages. She came into this event with back-to-back quarterfinal runs on grass. But I was very impressed with the way she disposed of Katie Volynets in their rain-interrupted first-round match.
Volynets has to be one of the greatest surnames in the history of tennis- but that is neither here nor there. Garcia was typically aggressive on return, winning over half of the points on Volynets’ first-serve. When Garcia is at her best, she has the ability to suffocate the life out of opponents.
Plenty of pundits lament the downfall of Emma Radacanu following that unheralded run to the 2021 US Open title. Her vanquished opponent in that final- Lylah Fernandez- has not fared that much better.
Wallowing at a lowly 95 in the world rankings, the Canadian has had to deal with poor form and a raft of injury problems since that brilliant run at Flushing Meadows. She was actually forced to miss last year’s Wimbledon with a foot fracture.
She fought valiantly yesterday to see off the spirited challenge of Ukrainian Kozlova. But Fernandez hasn’t strung together two consecutive victories on the main draw since Auckland earlier this year. It’s going to be a real challenge for her to withstand the flat-hitting barrage of Garcia.
Verdict: Garcia to win in straight sets at 21/20
Garcia leads Fernandez 2-0 in their head-to-head rivalry. Both of those matches have been tight affairs and both of them came this year. Garcia edged Fernandez in straight sets at this year’s Aussie Open.
The Canadian pushed Garcia to three sets in their subsequent match at Indian Wells. I think Fernandez is going to struggle against Garcia on these surfaces.
The Frenchwoman moves well on grass and is going to pick apart Fernandez’s 2nd serve. Fernandez relies on huge amounts of topspin and I just think Garcia’s flatter hitting style is better suited to conditions.
