The home crowd got off to a great start on day 2 – witnessing a breathtaking return to clay form from, Timea Bacsinszky. She is looking strong on her favourite surface. Unfortunately, Swiss number 1 Belinda Bencic tamely fell to German qualifier Antonia Lottner. This increases the hope and expectation on Bacsinszky, who has a tough battle against clay court expert Svetlana Kuznetsova on day 3. French dark horse player Fiona Ferro could continue to make waves in Lugano.
Here’s a selection of the top day 3 matches.
Alison Van Uytvanck vs Fiona Ferro
No history
A 2019 form line through Slovakian Anna Schmeidlova, gives Fiona Ferro the edge in this match up. This is by courtesy of Ferro beating her Abierto De Zapopan 2019 – the Slovak put Van Uytvanck to the sword earlier on in the season in Hobart. Granted this all happened on hard-court, but on 1st round evidence: Ferro looks the better mover on the red clay at the moment.
Prediction: Ferro in three
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Timea Bacsinszky
Head-to-head: Kuznetsova 4-0 Bacsinszky
Timea Bacsinszky moved well and looked fresh and impressive in her first round victory over Tamara Korpatsch in this tournament. Her veteran Russian opponent Svetlana Kuznetsova went all the way to a third set tie-break in beating Alexandrova. It was Kuznetsova’s first victory of the season. Although, the Russian owns the head-to-head, the pair have not meant since 2016. There has been no clay meeting either. The home country player may just edge this enthralling contest.
Prediction: Bacsinszky in three
Iga Swiatek vs Viktória Kužmová
No history
This is a battle to sit back and enjoy. The audaciously talented 17 year old Pole Iga Swiatek goes toe-to-toe against the breath-taking ground-stroking 20 year old Slovak Kuzmova. Therefore, this will be a no-holds-barred battle and quite frankly it could go either way. Strangely, even though it looks close on paper, whoever takes the first set, should carry that momentum forward and do it in two. Kuzmova just gets the nod.
Prediction: Kuzmova in two
Antonia Lottner vs Kristyna Pliskova
No history
Antonia Lottner simply out-battled Bencic and was good value for her straight sets victory in round 1. She is moving well and growing in confidence. She should have too much for Kristyna Pliskova on clay.
Prediction: Lottner in three
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