The 2019 J&T Banka Prague Open comes to an end on Sunday. It was an event full of surprises, which can best be seen in the fact that the final will be contested between a wild card and a qualifier. Here is our WTA Prague Final Prediction.
WTA Prague Final Prediction
Home turf
Let’s start from the local wild card Karolina Muchova. The 22-year-old Czech is one of the most surprising discoveries of the year so far. Her run to Dubai quarterfinals featured defeating the likes of Samantha Stosur and Su-Wei Hsieh and she also gave Angelique Kerber a very tough time, forcing her to a decider in Miami.
Her draw wasn’t one of the luckiest as she had to play the 17-year-old Polish prodigy Iga Świątek (a finalist in Lugano two weeks ago) in the first round. Muchova managed to pull through, aided by the fact that this was the Pole’s second match of the day. She was also guided by a crowd of vivacious Czech spectators. In the second round, that little bit of extra help was once again very much needed, as Muchova pulled through Jennifer Brady in a third set tie-breaker. From then on, she turned another gear and defeated her next opponents (although it has to be said that both are ranked outside the top 100) Natalia Vikhlyantseva and Bernarda Pera in stunning fashion.
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Seven matches already
That’s right, Jil Teichmann has already played seven matches here as Prague is one of these tournaments that require the qualifiers to win three matches in order to advance to the main draw. The Spanish-born Swiss player has recently captured some good results in ITF World Tennis Tour events and managed to bring that momentum to Czechia. Teichmann had a very tough qualifying section with the likes of Denis Allertova and Beatriz Haddad Maia on her way to the main draw. Beating them in straight sets was a good sign but the real test came in the second round of the main event, when Teichmann was down a set against a two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. Coming back from behind against such an accomplished player really allowed the Swiss to play her game with confidence. She absolutely destroyed Tamara Korpatsch and Barbora Strycova on her way to the finals (Strycova won six points in the second set).
Prediction
Both players are relatively new to the tour and no one knows their game to the fullest extent yet. However, with the way Teichmann played this week, especially in her last two matches, we feel pretty safe saying that her lefty forehand is bound to do a lot of damage to Muchova, who won’t be allowed to dictate the rhythm of play.
Prediction: Teichmann in 2
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