For the second time this year, Diana Shnaider and Leylah Fernandez will square off in a WTA event in the round of 64 of the Wuhan Open on Sunday.
Last month, Shnaider made it to the semi-finals of the Hana Bank Open before losing to her Russian compatriot Daria Kasatkina, while Fernandez did not survive her opening round match at the US Open in August, failing in two sets to Yulia Putintseva.
Match preview
It has been a strong year for Diana Shnaider on the WTA tour, winning three tournaments so far and fresh off a strong outing in South Korea last month.
Just over a year ago, the Russian suffered a crushing defeat in China versus Ons Jabeur at the Ningbo Open final (6-2 6-1), and she will be hoping for a little redemption on Chinese soil this time around.
The Olympic silver medallist in Women's doubles in Paris this past summer has had mixed results on the hard court in 2024, losing her opening match in her first three hard court tournaments this year but also making the final on that surface twice and capturing the Hua Hin Open in Thailand back in February.
Seeded #12 at this tournament, Shnaider has won 72.5% of her service games this year in 50 matches played, hitting a total of 93 aces.
She has not lost her first match at a WTA tournament since Yue Yan of China knocked her out of the Liberma Open in June in three sets (6-1 4-6 3-6).
So far in 2024, the Russian has won over 40% of her return points (43.8%) and converted nearly half of her break point chances (45.8%).
Leylah Fernandez has had over a month to think about what went wrong in Flushing Meadows as she suffered her earliest exit in a Grand Slam this year.
The 22-year-old Canadian has failed to win her opening match on the hard court in her previous two appearances, though she did make the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open in August on that surface.
A singles finalist at the 2021 US Open, Fernandez has lost her last three matches on tour, which have gone to a third and deciding set.
In 2024, the Canadian has committed her share of unforced errors, hitting nearly 200 double faults (179) in 41 matches played.
That said, Fernandez has managed to win over 65% (65.2%) of her first serves and has won close to 70% (69.7%) of her service games.
While her service game overall has been a little inconsistent, she has rescued 57.7% of her break points while converting 43.1% of those opportunities.
Head To Head
Cincinnati Open (2024) - Round Three-: Fernandez wins 6-1 6-4
The only previous meeting between these two players saw Fernandez hit seven aces while winning 40% of her break points during that encounter.
In addition to that, she won 83% of her first serves, lifting the Canadian to victory, as Shnaider only won 59% of her first serves and just one of her five break-point opportunities.
We say: Shnaider to win in three sets
These are two evenly matched players on the women's draw, but we are going with Shnaider, who has been far more consistent on the hard court as opposed to the streaky Canadian.
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