Sunday’s schedule is highlighted by several fascinating matchups provided by the WTA singles draw. American Coco Gauff will celebrate her 18th birthday on Sunday by taking on 2015 champion Simona Halep. Iga Swiatek, who leads the WTA this season with 15 match wins, plays surging 19-year-old Clara Tauson. And it will be the 2018 runner-up against the 2019 runner-up, as Daria Kasatkina faces Angelique Kerber.
On the men’s side, 2009 runner-up Andy Murray will tangle with the always-entertaining Alexander Bublik. Also, many top ATP names play their opening matches on Sunday, including Matteo Berrettini, Andrey Rublev, and Felix-Auger Aliassime. And there will be a plethora of appealing men’s and women’s doubles matchups around the grounds, many featuring prominent singles players.
Throughout the fortnight, the WTA singles draw will be one day ahead of the ATP. The women’s third round begins on Sunday, while the men’s second round concludes.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Iga Swiatek (3) vs. Clara Tauson (29) – Second on Stadium 1
Swiatek is 15-3 in 2022, and is currently on a six-match winning streak. A few weeks ago in Doha, she defeated three fellow top 10 players to claim the title. But Tauson appears to be a future top 10 player herself. Last year, she won five titles at all levels, and was most impressive at January’s Australian Open. Tauson defeated the WTA’s hottest player of the last six months, Anett Kontaveit, and played a stellar match in defeat against eventual finalist Danielle Collins. Their only previous meeting was three years ago in the Billie Jean King Cup, with Swiatek prevailing in straight sets. As great as Iga has been this year, this match feels like it could go either way. It would not be shocking if Clara’s powerful groundstrokes propel her to victory.
Coco Gauff (16) vs. Simona Halep (24) – Not Before 6:00pm on Stadium 1
Three years ago when a 15-year-old Gauff made her shocking run to the second week of Wimbledon, it was Halep who ended her tournament, with a straight-set victory on Manic Monday. That was part of Halep’s winning fortnight at The Championships, when she went on to soundly defeat Serena Williams in the final. Injuries disrupted much of Simona’s 2021, but she’s 12-3 to start 2022, and seems poised for a strong season. Gauff has continued to steadily climb the rankings, recently peaking at No.16. However, Coco is a modest 8-5 on the year, and she’s only beaten one top 40 player since last June. The young American still lacks the consistency of a player like Halep, who should be favored to spoil Coco’s birthday celebration.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Emma Raducanu (11) vs. Petra Martic – Raducanu looked pretty sharp in her victory over Caroline Garcia on Friday. Martic was ranked as high as 14th in the world two years ago, but cooled off considerably last year with a record of 15-21.
Alexander Bublik (31) vs. Andy Murray (WC) – Murray gritted out a gratifying win on Friday over Taro Daniel. Bublik was the champion in Montpellier last month, but lost to Murray in straight sets the very next week.
Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios (WC) vs. John Isner and Jack Sock (WC) – The Australians won their home Slam in January, and took out doubles specialists Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig on Friday. That’s the same day the Americans upset the top seeds, Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.
Angelique Kerber (15) vs. Daria Kasatkina (23) – Kerber came back from two breaks down in the third set on Friday night to defeat Qinwen Zheng. This will be her tenth career meeting with Kasatkina. Angie has claimed five of those nine encounters, including most recently at this same event in October.
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (4) vs. Sebastian Korda and Jannik Sinner – Korda lost a heartbreaker to his idol Rafael Nadal on Saturday, despite being up a double break in the final set. This is his second time teaming with Sinner, after reaching the semis in Washington last summer. Cabal and Farah won back-to-back Majors in 2019, but have dropped four of their last six matches.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
