Day 1 at the WTA event in Ostrava won’t feature any of the four Top 10 players who are taking part in this tournament, but it will still provide a lot of high level action for sure, including recent Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, and other former Grand Slam champions in Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka.
WTA Ostrava Day 1 Predictions
Ajla Tomljanović vs Shuai Zhang
Head-to-head: Tomljanović 3-3 Zhang
Just like the head-to-head suggests, this is an extremely even matchup between two players of similar level and ranking. It will come down to form on the day and recently Tomljanović has looked to be in slightly better form and she has a bit of an edge. It should be a very hard fought match decided by small details though.
Prediction: Tomljanović in 3
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Jil Teichmann vs Tereza Martincová
Head-to-head: Martincová 1-0 Teichmann
Both players have struggled a lot recently: Martincová has lost in the first two round of 20 out of 23 tournaments she’s played this season, while Teichmann hasn’t reached a quarterfinal since the clay swing and lost to a qualifer ranked outside the top 100 last week in Tallin. Both players will be desperate to get a very important win and some momentum back and it should be a very tight match.
Prediction: Teichmann in 3
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Victoria Azarenka vs Ekaterina Alexandrova
Head-to-head: Azarenka 3-0 Alexandrova
The two players might be separated by only one ranking spot (with an edge to Alexandrova), but their pedigree is very different: Azarenka is a former World #1 and two-time Slam champion while Alexadrova has never been Top 20 or got past the third round of a Slam. Azarenka also won all three previous meetings between the pair and should have the edge again here although, all things considered, this should be Alexandrova’s best chance to finally get a win in this matchup.
Head-to-head: Azarenka in 3
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Petra Kvitova vs Bernarda Pera
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kvitova was having a rough season but has really turned it around since Cincinnati and is back in the Top 20. Pera, on the other hand, has been struggling recently and will have a really tough time holding the former 2-time Wimbledon champion. On this surface, Kvitova should have a clear edge.
Prediction: Kvitova in 2
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Madison Keys vs Elena Rybakina
Head-to-head: Keys 2-0 Rybakina
Rybakina is clearly under-ranked due to Wimbledon offering no ranking points this season, but both of her defeats in this match came this year, suggesting she might simply struggle against Keys’s game. It seems unlikely that she’d lose a third time in a row against Keys, but she’ll definitely have her work cut out for her here.
Predictions: Rybakina in 3
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