Madison Keys was far from her best in her first-round Australian Open match. But last year’s surprise semifinalist rallied in time to record a straight-sets win. The World No. 17 will look to put together a much better performance as she faces World No. 70 Yaroslava Shvedova.
The 28-year-old Kazakh has not had much success Down Under during her career, but she does own a win against the young American. Can she claim another victory over Keys and unlock a spot in the third round?
Read on below for our preview of this second-round showdown. And for more top matchups from the women’s draw, check out our previews of Radwanska vs. Bouchard and Kvitova vs. Gavrilova.
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Madison Keys vs. Yaroslava Shvedova Betting Preview
World No. 17 Madison Keys had quite a rocky opening round match against Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas. Keys, who was playing her first match of 2016 after not playing in any warm-up tournaments prior to the Aussie Open, was very rusty for the first 40 or so minutes.
She committed most of her 39 unforced errors during that stretch and was eventually taken to a first set tie-break. To her credit, though, she eventually pulled herself together in the second set to record a 7-6(5), 6-1 win.
Keys doesn’t have the best record on hard court. She’s just 46-37 on the surface since becoming a regular on tour in 2013. However, her best Grand Slam performance to date came at the Australian Open, where she made the semifinals last year.
With a match finally under her belt, expect a much stronger start for Keys in her upcoming match against Yaroslava Shvedova. Keys, who’s known for having one of the best service games on tour, has the ability to simply overwhelm her opponent with her powerful serves.
After being forced to retire in her Australian Open tune-up tournament in Sydney, Yaroslava Shvedova looked pretty good in her straight-sets first-round win over Tsvetana Pironkova.
[sc:AUS15-250 ]Shvedova, the World No. 70, blasted 11 aces, 70 percent of first serve points and 77 percent of second serve points. She also fired home 47 winners, but committed 38 unforced errors.
Shvedova doesn’t have the most inspiring record at Melbourne. She is just 2-5 in her career at the Australian Open, and the lone win prior to this year came all the way back in 2008. That 2-5 record is by far her worst record among the four Grand Slams.
However, she is priced at just +220 to cause an upset over Keys, which should tell you that there’s something more than meets the eye in this matchup. Shvedova beat Keys in their only meeting thus far, which came at Wimbledon back in 2014.
