Svetlana Kuznetsova will play against her countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of the Sony Open tomorrow.
Kuznetsova made her way into the second round with a straight set victory over Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain. Kuznetsova defeated Lino by 6-3, 6-3.
On the other hand, Makarova got a bye in the first round. So, tomorrow’s match will be her first match in the tournament.
Kuznetsova is a very popular player in USA. The first Grand Slam tournament that she had won was the US Open in 2004.
The hard courts suit Kuznetsova’s style of play. She is a power hitter and there are very few players in the world who hit the ball as hard as her. Her record on hard courts has been astonishing.
In the ongoing season, Kuznetsova’s performance has been average. She hasn’t played outstandingly, but, she hasn’t played poorly either.
She has reached the quarterfinals of a couple of tournaments in this season. The last tournament in which she had participated was the BNP Paribas Open. She was defeated in the third round of that tournament by Marion Bartoli of France.
Makarova has also not done anything extraordinary in this season. She hasn’t looked at her peak in most of the matches. As far as style of play is concerned, she is also a decent hard court player. She plays superb ground strokes and is generally very good on her serve as well.
Makarova is currently higher in world rankings than Kuznetsova. She is at no. 20, while, Kuznetsova is at no. 45.
This will be the third encounter between these two Russian players. Both of them have won one each so far. The last match played between these two players was three years back in 2010.