Second-round action continues at the Baltic Open in Jurmala on day four. But who will book their place in the quarterfinals?
Baltic Open Day Four Predictions
Bernarda Pera vs Elena Rybakina
Head-to-head: first meeting
In what is surely much the best match of day four, the in-form Pera and Rybakina are set to face. Pera took full advantage of Jelena Ostapenko’s continuing struggles to sweep past the 2017 French Open champion into the second round. Meanwhile, last week’s Bucharest champion Rybakina was very impressive in dominating Han Xinyun on day two, extending her winning streak to six matches. Both players have exceptional win percentages on clay over the last 12 months, at around 75%. As a result, there doesn’t look to be much to split them. But the confidence of the young Ukrainian could well prove to be the difference at the Baltic Open.
Prediction: Rybakina in 3
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Valentyna Ivakhnenko vs Irina Maria Bara
Head-to-head: first meeting
Bara was the beneficiary of Margarita Gasparyan’s retirement in the first round, though she was already 4-0 up in the third set when the handshake came. Ivakhnenko, meanwhile, came through qualifying before produced one of the upsets of the first round by dismantling Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-0 6-4, ranked over 100 places above her. With both players clearly most at home on the clay and in pretty good form expect a tough, long battle here. But Bara has slightly more experience at tour-level and that could just give her the edge.
Prediction: Bara in 3
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Paula Ormaechea vs Nina Stojanovic
Head-to-head: first meeting
The Argentinian Ormaechea had a relatively easy time of it in the first round, advancing to the last 16 when her opponent, Slovenia’s Kristina Kucova, was forced to withdraw trailing 1-6 1-4. The young Serbian Stojanovic, in contrast, had to come through a difficult battle, but delivered an excellent performance to oust the fourth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich after three gruelling sets. As long as that battle hasn’t taken too much out of her Stojanovic should be able to rely on her momentum to progress. She has won eight matches in a row, admittedly mostly below tour-level, and taking out a player of Sasnovich’s quality shows how well she is playing.
Prediction: Stojanovic in 2
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Diana Marcinkevica vs Anastasia Potapova
Head-to-head: first meeting
Marcinkevica must have been delighted when finding out that a WTA tournament was coming to Latvia as it meant that she had a chance of receiving a wild card in. Her first-round draw also favoured her as she played another wild card, Kamilla Rakhimova, whom she saw off easily in straight sets. Potapova had to wait until day three to secure her place in the second round, but ultimately advanced comfortably at the expense of the Austrian Barbara Haas.
Potapova is by far the better player in this match, possessing a better win percentage on tour, including on the clay, along with higher hold and break percentages. She is also young and improving, with a potentially high ceiling. Marcinkevica is on home ground and this may be enough for her to raise her game to offer Potapova a challenge, but it is hard to see that being enough for the Latvian wildcard to spring the upset.
Prediction: Potapova in 2
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