Game plan

Astra Sharma v Yulia Putintseva

Every number combines what Astra Sharma does well with what Yulia Putintseva allows, each measured against the tour average and shrunk toward it when the sample is thin. Flip perspective

Forecast

Astra Sharma wins, best of 3 70%90%: 36%–92% · best of 5: 74%

Serve points won 57.8% / 53.8% Astra / Yulia · tour 55.0%

Strengths only, no similarity priors 70%serve 57.8% / 53.8%

Each player's serve and return strength is fitted against every opponent they were charted against, so a record built on weak opponents counts for less. At least one of them is no longer active or has too little charted in the last three seasons, so both are compared on their careers. The result is then nudged by Astra Sharma's record against Yulia Putintseva's tactical lookalikes and in their charted head-to-heads. A game-by-game Markov chain turns point odds into match odds; the 90% range covers the uncertainty in the two strengths, not the nudges. Charted matches lean toward big events, so treat this as a scouting estimate, not a betting line.

Head to head, per 100 shots

Career	Astra	Yulia
Direction choice	−0.06 ±0.08 better than 42%	−0.04 ±0.06 better than 48%
Shot selection	+0.12 ±0.44 better than 57%	−0.42 ±0.13 better than 15%
Execution	−1.59 ±1.43 better than 9%	+0.53 ±0.56 better than 80%

Each player's career against an average tour player in the same position, adjusted for opponent strength, with a 90% margin (shots clustered by match). Points left on the table is the gap to the best-value direction for the same stroke, so lower is better. Percentiles are within each player's own tour. A side is highlighted only when the gap is larger than the margin on the difference.

Serve plan

The share of points the server wins when a first serve lands in that direction (hover a rate for its 90% interval; ± is the 90% margin). "Matchup" combines the server's rate with how this returner handles that serve. "Optimal" is the mix that wins most against this returner once they start reading a habit, at the response measured across the tour, and only within the range servers' habits actually vary. The gain over the current mix is how exploitable that mix is.

Astra Sharma serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Astra wins	v Yulia	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	47%	61%	68%	63.4%±9.1	50% ▲
Body	18%	63%	62%	66.9%±11.0	3% ▼
T	35%	74%	66%	72.8%±9.1	47% ▲

Optimal v Yulia Putintseva: +0.4±1.1 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +5.5 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Astra wins	v Yulia	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	54%	69%	70%	72.5%±8.1	54%
Body	15%	52%	54%	49.9%±13.1	0% ▼
T	31%	66%	68%	69.4%±9.8	46% ▲

Optimal v Yulia Putintseva: +1.2±1.1 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix. Serving wide every time would read +4.3 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Yulia Putintseva serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Yulia wins	v Astra	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	58%	60%	65%	58.7%±9.7	58%
Body	18%	52%	55%	49.6%±12.2	3% ▼
T	24%	66%	71%	68.7%±9.9	39% ▲

Optimal v Astra Sharma: +0.6±1.2 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +9.3 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Yulia wins	v Astra	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	49%	60%	57%	51.8%±10.0	34% ▼
Body	17%	52%	57%	52.1%±11.8	18%
T	33%	59%	62%	56.4%±10.9	48% ▲

Optimal v Astra Sharma: +0.3±1.1 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +3.0 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Return plan

Value of each return, in points per 100 returns against an average return of the same serve (direction, court, surface): the tour's result with that return, the returner's own edge with it, and what this server gives up when it comes back to that side. Returns with no charted direction are left out, so values compare with each other rather than with zero. Depth isn't a choice here: missed returns have no depth. Serve quality isn't charted, so a block through the middle partly reflects the serve that forced it.

Astra Sharma returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Yulia	Value
FH through the middle	57%	+4.2	−0.2	+0.1	+4.0±2.7
FH crosscourt	21%	+5.3	+0.6	+1.4	+7.3±3.8
FH down the line	21%	+1.5	+1.1	+6.2	+8.9±4.2

Lean FH down the line: +3.1±3.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (84 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Yulia	Value
BH through the middle	44%	+6.0	−0.8	+0.9	+6.1±2.6
BH crosscourt	23%	+7.7	−0.8	+1.2	+8.1±3.2
BH slice crosscourt	11%	−4.2	±0.0	−0.2	−4.4±2.2
BH slice through the middle	11%	−6.2	−0.6	+0.9	−6.0±2.2
BH slice down the line	6%	−12.5	+1.4	+1.4	−9.8±2.4

Lean BH crosscourt: +5.1±2.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (93 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Yulia	Value
FH through the middle	27%	−2.7	+0.8	+0.4	−1.4±2.4
BH through the middle	22%	−2.6	−0.6	+1.2	−2.1±2.3
BH crosscourt	20%	+1.5	−0.2	−2.1	−0.8±3.0
FH inside-out	20%	+1.4	±0.0	+5.1	+6.4±3.8
FH inside-in	10%	+0.7	−1.6	+3.6	+2.7±3.8

Yulia Putintseva returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Astra	Value
FH through the middle	47%	+4.2	−0.6	+0.4	+4.0±2.9
FH down the line	25%	+1.5	+1.1	−1.8	+0.8±4.3
FH crosscourt	16%	+5.3	−5.1	−0.3	−0.1±4.3
FH slice through the middle	7%	−6.7	+0.8	−0.8	−6.7±2.2
FH slice crosscourt	5%	−6.6	−1.0	−1.3	−8.9±2.4

Lean FH through the middle: +2.8±2.0 per 100 returns v the current mix (415 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Astra	Value
BH through the middle	38%	+6.0	+1.8	−1.6	+6.3±2.8
BH crosscourt	28%	+7.7	+1.9	+0.1	+9.7±3.6
BH slice through the middle	12%	−6.2	−1.6	−0.9	−8.8±2.2
BH down the line	12%	+2.2	+0.5	−0.7	+2.0±4.4
BH slice crosscourt	5%	−4.2	+0.2	±0.0	−3.9±1.9

Lean BH crosscourt: +6.2±2.8 per 100 returns v the current mix (371 returns charted)

2nd serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Astra	Value
FH through the middle	51%	−3.2	−0.1	−1.4	−4.6±3.1
FH down the line	30%	−0.6	−4.4	−5.1	−10.0±4.8
FH crosscourt	19%	+0.5	−1.0	+0.8	+0.3±4.1

Lean FH crosscourt: +5.7±4.0 per 100 returns v the current mix (107 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Astra	Value
BH through the middle	44%	−2.6	+0.6	+2.2	+0.2±2.7
BH crosscourt	36%	+1.5	±0.0	−3.2	−1.7±3.5
BH down the line	17%	−0.5	−2.5	−2.4	−5.4±4.7
FH through the middle	3%	−2.7	+0.7	−1.4	−3.4±2.2

Lean BH through the middle: +1.7±2.1 per 100 returns v the current mix (230 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

Rally plan

Edge, in points per 100 shots: the hitter's skill with the shot (own) plus how much the receiver usually gives up against it (theirs), both measured against the tour average on clay. Each player's clay record is shrunk toward their all-surface one, so a thin sample on it moves the numbers only a little.

Astra Sharma

Favour

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to their backhand · return	+5.6±5.8	+0.6	+5.0
FH to their forehand · serve +1	+2.4±5.4	−0.5	+2.9
BH to the middle · return	+1.3±3.6	−1.0	+2.3
FH to their backhand · rally	+0.9±4.3	−0.4	+1.3
FH to their backhand · serve +1	±0.0±5.3	−4.7	+4.8
FH to the middle · rally	−0.8±3.3	−1.2	+0.4

Avoid

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to the middle · serve +1	−4.0±3.8	−3.8	−0.1
FH to the middle · return	−2.4±3.4	−1.5	−0.9
FH to their forehand · rally	−1.7±4.3	−1.0	−0.7
FH to their forehand · return	−1.7±6.0	−3.9	+2.2
BH to their backhand · rally	−1.3±4.2	−1.5	+0.2

Yulia Putintseva

Favour

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
BH to the middle · rally	+2.9±3.0	+1.6	+1.3
FH to the middle · rally	+0.5±3.4	+2.2	−1.8
FH to the middle · return	±0.0±3.6	+1.0	−1.0
BH to the middle · return	−0.3±3.4	+0.7	−1.0
BH to their backhand · return	−1.1±4.5	+1.5	−2.6
FH to their forehand · rally	−1.4±4.5	+1.8	−3.2

Avoid

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to their backhand · serve +1	−4.4±5.5	+1.0	−5.4
BH to their backhand · serve +1	−2.2±5.0	+0.7	−2.9
BH to their backhand · rally	−1.6±3.8	+2.6	−4.2
FH to their backhand · rally	−1.5±4.6	+1.0	−2.5
FH to their forehand · rally	−1.4±4.5	+1.8	−3.2

Against Yulia Putintseva-like opponents

Astra Sharma v	Matches	Serve pts won	Return pts won
All charted opponents	–	59.5%	47.5%

Similar by tactical fingerprint: Camila Osorio, Marie Bouzkova, Antonia Ruzic, Emma Navarro, Emma Raducanu, Lin Zhu, Anastasija Sevastova, Clara Burel, Alize Cornet, Elena Dementieva. When two players have rarely met, their records against these lookalikes fill the gap.