Daria Kasatkina vs Marie Bouzkova National Bank Open Preview and Expert Tip: Keep Trust in Kasatkina

Daria Kasatkina vs Marie Bouzkova (National Bank Open): Thursday, August 10th

Another win from the women’s preview on Wednesday, as Kasatkina plays with fire in the second set, but gets the job done in time after a dominant opening set of tennis..

For Thursday’s tennis from Montreal, let’s once again turn to the Russian, as we preview Daria Kasatkina vs Marie Bouzkova from the WTA draw at the National Bank Open.

Daria Kasatkina vs Marie Bouzkova Expert Tip

It can be tough backing Kasatkina and leaving games on the table in the handicap market considering how tough it can be for her to hold serve consistently, but for many of the same reasons as Wednesday’s preview, I’m going to do so again.

I’m just not sure Bouzkova has the requisite power to punish Kasatkina and she’s certainly not on her level overall at the moment.

I’ll back her once again, but this time giving up a smaller head start against her Czech opponent.

Read on for more expert insights.

• Expert Tip: Kasatkina -3 Games at 1.97 with Pinnacle, using 4/10 stakes.

Daria Kasatkina Recent Form

I suppose we’ll once again look at Kasatkina in this spot. Not much to add to yesterday’s preview. We know she plays a rock solid game from the baseline, she works the outer thirds of the court with aplomb, and if you don’t have much power, it’s nearly impossible to beat her unless she has an off day.

Bouzkova should commit fewer errors than Anna Blinkova, but she’s also less likely to jump all over Kasatkina serves and be able to seize control of points.

She employs a very similar style to Kasatkina, with very little pace and a consistent game style.

Kasatkina doesn’t really struggle as much with those types, and it’s the reason she’s able to hang up top rankings-wise, despite not having at least one weapon like so many of the women in her tier.

Marie Bouzkova Recent Form

It’s been a rather plain season for Bouzkova, who broke onto the scene in 2022, but hasn’t managed to really replicate much of the success this time around.

She’s made just one quarterfinal this year, at an ITF event on clay (oddly, her worst surface) and the final 16 at a pair of big events (Rome and Wimbledon), but that’s about it.

The real jarring takeaway though is the quality of her wins – or lack thereof. She has yet to stun us with her counterpunching style and rigid defensive abilities in a shock upset of a big player. By ranking, one could look to a pair of wins over Caroline Garcia, but in reality, the Frenchwoman has also regressed in a big way and it’d be a stretch to call those good wins.

Even this week, she snuck by a surging, but still ITF Tour-calibre player in Kayla Day and then picked up one of the aforementioned wins over Garcia (in 3 sets).

She does have a win against Coco Gauff, but that appears to be an outlier more than anything at this point. I’m not sure what she does better than Kasatkina and don’t think she has the game profile that typically troubles the Russian either.

Daria Kasatkina vs Marie Bouzkova H2H – Stat of the Match

These two have met twice before, with Kasatkina being 2-0 in a pair of three setters, but I think that is more of a reassuring factor than anything, as the matchup would explain precisely why that kind of head-to-head exists.

For the stat of the match, it’s Bouzkova’s record against the top 20 players in the world I want to look at over the course of the last year.

She’s just 4-8 in that span, but more importantly, six of those losses have been by more than a three-game margin, with one landing right on that three-game number.

Her consistency is sure to pose problems for players at lower levels of the game, but she needs more to trouble those at the top of the game.

Odds as at 4:00 am UK Time on August 10th, 2023. Odds may now differ.

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