Two opposite styles

Everything separates them..

Matchup between an aggressive Russian lefty, who’s defending a quarterfinal here, and a lucky loser in all‑in mode. Shnaider looks untouchable on serve and her forehand is devastating. What I also particularly liked in her last match was her movement. She hasn’t always covered that much court, and it really made a difference, especially against Keys where, I’ll remind you, she lost by a hair. Her match yesterday against the lackluster Canadian Fernandez followed the same pattern. I was expecting a real lefty-on-lefty battle, but not at all. I was left wanting more: a balanced first set, then Diana stepped on the gas and it became pretty one‑sided.

The world No. 1 in doubles was given a second chance after losing in qualifying. It’s often in this kind of situation that she becomes dangerous. Her last match against Yastremska last night is not really a benchmark in itself: the Ukrainian never truly got into the match, maybe already looking ahead to the Australian Open, given the extremely harsh 6–0 6–1 scoreline.

The two players know each other very well, particularly given their many meetings in doubles, with Shnaider being ranked 11th in the world in that discipline. In singles, the H2H is balanced and has often produced tough, tight matches. Siniakova has top‑tier counterpunching skills and knows exactly how to deal with this kind of Russian aggressiveness.