Tournament: International Adelaide 1.
Round: Second round (the 16th round).
Venue: Adelaide, Australia’s Memorial Drive Tennis Centre
Category: WTA 500.
Surface: Hardcourt outdoors.
Prize cash: $826,837.
Telecast live: Tennis Channel in the US and Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
Preview: Elena Rybakina vs. Marta Kostyuk: In the Round of 16 of the Adelaide International 1 on Wednesday, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina will face rising star Marta Kostyuk.
Last season at SW19, Rybakina made the biggest comeback of her career by becoming the first Kazakh to win a singles Grand Slam title.
The Global No. 21 also competed in a few other finals in 2022, the Adelaide International 1 being one of them.
After losing to the World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the summit match, and the 23-year-old will be eager to make amends and advance one step this time.
After leading Team Hawks to victory at the World Tennis League, a high-profile exhibition competition held in Dubai last month, the Kazakh has relocated to Australia.
She represented World No. 1 Iga Swiatek will win the championship, which should give her a lot of confidence going into the new season.
The certainty was obvious when Rybakina ground out a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over fifth seed Danielle Collins on Monday to start her Adelaide crusade in loud style.
Women’s tennis’ next big thing has been Kostyuk, a Ukrainian 20-year-old, for some time.
She has a single doubles title to her name, which she won in Portoroz in 2022, but she hasn’t won a singles title yet.
She reached her highest career ranking of 49 in February of last year, and her best Grand Slam performance thus far is a 2021 appearance in the fourth round of the French Open.
The WTA 250 event in Granby, Canada, saw Kostyuk reach the semifinals, his best performance of 2022.
The youngster clearly has the potential to accomplish more, and he or she will be eager to do so this year.
Kostyuk, who is currently ranked 69th, defeated Jaimee Fourlis in the first round, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, after winning two rounds of qualifying at Adelaide.
Head-to-head matchup between Elena Rybakina and Marta Kostyuk.
Because Rybakina and Kostyuk have never met in person before on the tour, their matchup is still tied at 0-0.
Elena Rybakina versus Marta Kostyuk forecast
Despite the fact that Kostyuk is a gifted player with a power-stuffed forceful game, she goes back and forth during matches.
The youngster still has a lot of trouble dealing with pressure, as she committed as many as eight double faults against Jaimee Fourlis in the first round.
Kostyuk has a tough job ahead of her because Rybakina comes into this contest with a lot of self-confidence.
The Kazakh player gets the ball first and hits both wings flat.
She should benefit from her experience playing in larger tournaments and the final in Adelaide last year.