MATCH POINTS
Having overcome a 1-3 head-to-head deficit to beat Veronika Kudermetova in the second round, No.4 seed Belinda Bencic will bid to overturn another against Yulia Putintseva. However, Putintseva's first two wins were in Luxembourg qualifying in 2011 - a 14-year-old Bencic's WTA qualifying debut - and then via retirement in the first round of Sydney 2017. Since then, the pair split meetings in 2019, with Bencic winning 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in a superb contest in the second round of the Australian Open and Putintseva taking their Miami second round 6-3, 7-5.
No.11 seed Garbiñe Muguruza and Dayana Yastremska faced off three times in a five-month spell between October 2018 and February 2019, with Yastremska emerging with a 2-1 head-to-head lead. The Ukrainian's pair of wins over Muguruza, in the second round of Luxembourg 2018 and in the 2019 Hua Hin quarterfinals en route to the title, were the first two Top 20 victories of her career, and instrumental to her meteoric rise from outside the Top 100 to inside the Top 50 during this period. Two weeks after the Hua Hin match, though, Muguruza got her revenge, posting a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Yastremska in the first round of Dubai.
Four years after Jelena Ostapenko upset Petra Kvitova 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round of Doha 2016 for her second career Top 10 scalp en route to her first Premier 5 final, the pair meet again in Qatar. Overall, their head-to-head is all square at three wins apiece: Ostapenko backed up the Doha result with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win in the second round of Birmingham that year before Kvitova swung the rivalry back her way with three straight-sets victories in a row, at the US Open and Wuhan in 2016 and then in the 2018 St. Petersburg quarterfinals. However, Ostapenko triumphed in their most recent meeting 7-6(4), 6-3 in the fourth round of Miami 2018 en route to the final.
No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova takes on wildcard Ons Jabeur for the second time, having previously overcome the Tunisian 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in an excellent third-round contest at the US Open last year.
ORDER OF PLAY
CENTRE COURT (starts 2pm)
Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) vs [8] Petra KVITOVA (CZE)
Not before 3.30pm
Amanda ANISIMOVA (USA) vs Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS)
Yulia PUTINTSEVA (KAZ) vs [4] Belinda BENCIC (SUI)
Not before 7.00pm
[3] Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE) vs [WC] Ons JABEUR (TUN)
[11] Garbiñe MUGURUZA (ESP) vs Dayana YASTREMSKA (UKR)
COURT 1 (starts 3.30pm)
[7] Kiki BERTENS (NED) vs ZHENG Saisai (CHN)
Not before 5.30pm
[15] Maria SAKKARI (GRE) vs [9] Aryna SABALENKA (BLR)
TBA after rest
[1] HSIEH Su-Wei (TPE) / Barbora STRYCOVA (CZE) vs Belinda BENCIC (SUI) / Sofia KENIN (USA)
COURT 2 (starts 4.30pm)
[4] Barbora KREJCIKOVA (CZE) / Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE) vs [WC] Cagla BUYUKAKCAY (TUR) / Laura SIEGEMUND (GER)
[5] Nicole MELICHAR (USA) / XU Yifan (CHN) vs [2] Timea BABOS (HUN) / Kristina MLADENOVIC (FRA)
[6] Gabriela DABROWSKI (CAN) / Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) vs [3] Elise MERTENS (BEL) / Aryna SABALENKA (BLR)
