Analysis for Vesnina-Cornet (WTA Madrid)

Head-to-head record 0:1

Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina will play Alize Cornet of France in the first round at Madrid. Vesnina is a very talented player who made a solid start to 2009 by participating in the 2009 ASB Classic in January. It was here that she advanced to her first final on the WTA Tour, upsetting the tournament's sixth-seed Nicole Vaidisova in the second round and the second-seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals along the way. She then prevailed in a marathon semifinal against Anne Keothavong to set up a meeting with fellow Russian and tournament first-seed Elena Dementieva. She started strongly in the match with a 3-1 lead but eventually lost to Dementieva. She then continued in above-average performances and her latest clay-court results are also solid. She started her 2009 clay court season in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. She upset 6th-seeded Shuai Peng in the first round and the 3rd-seed Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals. She lost to 2nd-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in 3 sets battle in the semifinals. She then reached the quarterfinals of the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, before losing to Sabine Lisicki while battling a leg strain. At Vesnina's next tournament, the 2009 Rome Masters, she reached the second round by defeating American Jill Craybas, but lost to Jie Zheng. Vesnina is a baseliner who is also proficient at net and can finish rallies from there after getting her opponent out of position. She emphasizes ball placement and strategy. Vesnina's biggest weakness is her serve. Vesnina often double faults once or twice per game in her matches. She will play Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in the first round. Cornet, on the other hand, has been totally out of form lately. She has been considered to be one of the biggest talents of upcoming tennis generation but 2009 is a nightmare season for her. Her latest results are more than disappointing as she hasn’t won a single match on clay so far and we don’t think she will be able to turn the things today. Vesnina easily got through the qualifiers without losing a single set there and we believe that she is a big favourite against out of form Cornet. Anything above 1.7 is good enough for us.