Has Angie finally broken the deadlock?

With a dismal record of just two wins from the ten singles matches played in 2022, Angelique Kerber travelled early to France, where she will compete in the main draw of the French Open next week. The German registered for a final preparation tournament in Strasbourg by wildcard, where she was able to end her long drought. She defeated local hero Diane Parry 2:0 in the first round.

Now the former world number one will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who has never won a title on the WTA Tour before but has a good annual record of 21 wins from 30 singles matches. Consequently, in the run-up to the match between Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Angelique Kerber, the odds are swinging in the direction of the Belarusian.

The big question, however, is whether Angie will be able to start a small run on the clay court, which she doesn’t like very much anyway, or whether she will have to keep her strength up for the French Open, where she has failed in the first round in five of the last six events.

Consequently, we expect a short match with an uncertain outcome, which is why the best bet for Aliaksandra Sasnovich against Angelique Kerber is under 20.5 games.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich – Statistics & Current Form

Current world ranking: 45
Seeded List Position: Qualifier

The 28-year-old Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich made the leap from the ITF to the WTA Tour in 2014. It took her three years to work her way into the top 100 of the WTA world rankings.

At one point, the lady from Minsk was ranked 30th. Currently, as number 45, she usually has to go through the qualifying rounds – as was the case here in Strasbourg, where she booked her ticket to the main draw with two unchallenged 2-0 victories over Vlada Koval and Lena Papadakis.

Won 21 of 30 completed singles in 2022

The 28-year-old also got off to a good start in the first round, defeating Julie Gervais 2-0, a debutant who, at 30, was making it into the main draw of a WTA tournament for the first time.

With the three victories at the tennis tournament in Strasbourg, Aliaksandra Sasnovich improved her annual record to 21 victories against nine defeats. Only the big wins are still missing for the Belarusian, who has only defeated a reigning top-10 player six times in her career.

No tournament win for eight years now

Aliaksandra Sasnovich has yet to win a title on the WTA Tour. Her last tournament win dates back to 2014, when she was still playing in the ITF and won a small clay court tournament in Brescia.

Nevertheless, the Belarusian is now favoured in her clash with the German, who is in poor form.

Angelique Kerber – Statistics & current form

Current ranking in the world rankings: 22
Position in the seedings: 2 / wildcard

As a three-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one, the 34-year-old German Angelique Kerber undoubtedly still has a lot of charisma. However, there hasn’t really been much to see of the Kiel native lately.

Since her overall victory at the Wimbledon Championships in 2018, Angie has only won one small grass-court tournament in the summer of 2021 in Bad Homburg. Most recently, she was eliminated in the first round for the second time in a row at the 2022 Australian Open.

The first singles win in three and a half months

Things have not been going well at all for the Kiel native so far in 2022, who has gone more than three months without a singles win on the WTA Tour since the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells at the beginning of March.

Accordingly, her fans had to fear the worst for the clay court season, especially as Angelique Kerber has not yet been able to record any resounding successes on this surface. The 34-year-old has failed to reach the first round in five of her last six appearances at the French Open.

The current biggest shortcoming is the serve

At least the former world number one regained some self-confidence in the final test in Strasbourg when she won 2:0 against Diane Parry. It was only her third singles win in her eleventh singles match in 2022. It is not entirely out of the question that this smooth victory could be the spark that sets the ball rolling. Nevertheless, the signs still point to a short match, which is why betting on less than 20.5 games for Aliaksandra Sasnovich against Angelique Kerber makes a lot of sense.

With just 55.7% of service games won in 2022, her most recent major shortcoming was her completely erratic service. Her last defeats were correspondingly short, such as the 0:2 against Coco Gauff in Rome, in which the Kieler was defeated in just 70 minutes…

Aliaksandra Sasnovich – Angelique Kerber Direct comparison / H2H record

Head to head: 0:1

So far, the only time the two women have faced each other was at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, when Angelique Kerber lost the first set 6-2 on her favoured grass court, but then turned it around and won 6-0, 6-1 to win the match 2-1.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich – Angelique Kerber Tip

When it comes to Aliaksandra Sasnovich against Angelique Kerber, the prediction tends to go in the direction of the Belarussian, who has not yet had any resounding successes, but who has performed much more consistently in 2022 than the in-form German.

The opening victory in Strasbourg, in which Angie won a singles match for the first time in three and a half months, could well be the spark. A strong run by the former world number one would nevertheless come as a surprise.

We don’t expect too long a match between the two ladies, who also won all three sets in Wimbledon last year.