Analysis for Dechy-Kutuzova (WTA Australian open)

Head-to-head record 1:0

French veteran Natalie Dechy will face Ukrainian qualifier Victoriya Kutuzova in the first round. Dechy is an experienced player with enormous fighting spirit. Her game is built upon hard-flat strokes on both sides. She hits the ball very cleanly, especially off her backhand. Her compact strokes allow her to change easily, and she likes to hit the ball down the line from both sides. Her weakness is her serve, with a ball toss that sometimes drifts too far to the left. Her movement is also not the quickest one, and that can put her in defensive positions given limited reach when drawn out wide. Her 2008 was one of the worst she ever had and got a lot to improve. In 2009, she is 0-1 on WTA tour being demolished by Suarez Navarro at Auckland. Her opponent will be Ukrainian qualifier Victoriya Kutuzova. Kutuzova remains most notable for her results as a 14 year old. In her debut WTA maindraw event, in the Tier II event, in Los Angeles 2003, Kutuzova beat top 50 player, Lina Krasnoroutskaya, in the 1st round, and top 30 player, Alexandra Stevenson in her next match, before losing in the 3rd round to then world number 12, Ai Sugiyama. Other career highlights in WTA main draw events include a 4th round appearance at the Tier I in Indian Wells 2005, eventually losing to then number 1, Lindsay Davenport. Kutuzova has experienced considerable success at an ITF level. She has won four ITF events. Viktoriya has suffered some shoulder problems throughout her young career which have stalled her progression on the main WTA tour. Currently however, Viktoriya has qualified for 2009 Australian Open winning three consecutive matches and beating Mamic, Stevenson and Puchkova. We think she has a solid chance to succeed here and odds above 2.3 are worth considering here.