WTA Dubai Open: Aryna Sabalenka vs. Alize Cornet 3/9/2021 Tennis Prediction

Third seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus faces unseeded Alize Cornet of France in the Second Round of the 2021 Dubai Open WTA event. The match is scheduled to be played on Tuesday March 9th, 2021. They have played once before in their careers with Cornet winning on that occasion. Who will win and advance to the Round of 16?

Aryna Sabalenka is currently ranked #8 in the world and ended 2020 in incredible fashion, winning two consecutive tournaments to end the year. She began 2021 as she left off, winning the first tournament of the year in Abu Dhabi. She seemed primed for a run at the Australian Open title but her form changed dramatically, losing in the First Round of the warm-up event in Adelaide to Kaia Kanepi before falling in three sets to an in-form Serena Williams in the Fourth Round at the Australian Open. She will be hoping to turn her season around here and re-establish herself as one of the world’s top players. She has a huge game, with a booming serve and groundstrokes. She enters this match as the favorite and is one of the main contenders for the title here in Dubai. 

Alize Cornet is currently ranked #56 but is a stronger player than her ranking suggests. Once ranked in the top 20, she has struggled to string consistent results together over the past few seasons and has seen her ranking slide to where it is now. In fact, in the five tournaments that she has played this year she has only won two matches and will be desperate to turn her season around with a strong showing here this week in Dubai. However she has been handed a poor draw, first having to play a tough opponent in Kasatkina and now facing one of the best players in the world. 

While she has struggled lately after a strong start to the year, I expect Aryna Sabalenka to advance here with relative ease. Cornet is solid but is not the player she once was and it is unlikely that she will be able to trouble the Belarusian. Expect a confidence-boosting win for Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.