To see detailed h2h stats and predictions for Serena Williams vs Danka Kovinic, see our Stevegtennis head to head prediction here.
With Serena Williams‘ retirement all but confirmed, the US Open will be a farewell event for the greatest female player of all time. While success seems far more likely in doubles with Venus, she will be hoping to take one last crack at an unlikely 24th slam here. It will be Danka Kovinic first up with the unenviable task of potentially retiring Serena although Anett Kontaveit looks far more likely to be the one to pull it off in round two.
Serena’s return to the tour after a year out has gone about as well as expected with just one win and three losses so far. She was unable to take things up a level late in her Wimbledon match with Harmony Tan but did show a great deal of fight to see herself to a third set tiebreak at least. Losses to Belinda Bencic and Emma Raducanu during the US Open series were far more disappointing, with Serena suffering a rare 6-0 set loss in the latter.
Kovinic is not in great form recently and is in the midst of a five match losing streak across three different surfaces. One of those losses came to Nuria Parrizas Dias, whom she took just two games from in Cincinnati qualifying. The Montenegrin is a fairly solid player and can hold her game together long enough against better players to pick up nice wins on occasion – as wins against Raducanu and Pliskova amongst others show this year.
The days of expecting Serena to cruise through early rounds even if playing poorly are long gone. With a serve that has definitely lost some pep, this is not going to be a straight forward task against an opponent capable of grinding in a drawn-out match. The New York crowd may need to drag her over the line as two first round slam exits in a row to end an illustrious career would be a disappointing way to bow out.
Prediction – Serena Williams in three sets
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