Analysis for Bartoli-Pironkova (WTA Australian Open)

Head-to-head record 2:0

Bulgarian Tsvetlana Pironkova will fight Marion Bartoli for a third round spot. Bartoli is more experienced player but she is not playing her best at the moment. She is known for her unorthodox and intense style of play on the court. She uses two hands on both the forehand and the backhand, and is generally classed as an aggressive and hard-hitting player. She developed her two-handed style on the advice of her father, who is also her coach. Bartoli also had trouble with her forehand at the time, so when she made the switch to two hands, it greatly improved. She uses her double-fisted strokes to create sharp angles to open up the court and prefers to take the ball early on groundstrokes and especially returns of serve, usually standing close to the baseline or even inside it during rallies. However, she is not a very good mover and is further inhibited by her two-fisted strokes, which can make her vulnerable to fast all-court players. Bartoli is also known for her unusual serve, in which she uses her wrist to generate speed. She will face Bulgarian youngster in the second round. Pironkova is a very talented player who made a solid start to 2009. Her 2008 season was pretty successful as well as she has played several great matches against the world-class players such as Kuznetsova, Henin, Ivanovic, Azarenka or Chakvetadze. She caused the shocking upset at the 2008 Rome Masters. As a qualifier, she beat top seed and world no. 3 Ana Ivanovic in the second round for the biggest victory of her career so far. She is definitely not inexperienced and even if she is still young, she definitely has the match practice against the top competitors. She looked ok in the first round trashing the qualifier Sprem and we are looking forward to her next match. Odds above 2.5 can be taken here.