Day four at the Luxembourg Open featured plenty of upsets with top seed Elise Mertens falling to Jelena Ostapenko and qualifier Antonia Lottner defeating former-world #9 Andrea Petkovic, who retired injured after dropping the opening set 6-1. But with the draw now looking wide open, who will take advantage and move into the last four?
Luxembourg Open Quarterfinal Predictions
Laura Siegemund vs Elena Rybakina
Head-to-head: Rybakina 1-0 Siegemund
Laura Siegemund advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-3 win over the in-form Viktoria Kuzmova. Siegemund, who isn’t known to have a big serve, to say the least, managed to go the whole match without losing serve, enjoying one of her better days from the line in recent years. Elena Rybakina also looks to be playing well after defeating Denisa Allertova 6-2 6-1. This looks set to be a close contest, but Rybakina emerged victorious in this pair’s only previous match and the conditions at the Luxembourg Open suit her game better.
Prediction: Rybakina in 3
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Margarita Gasparyan vs Anna Blinkova
Head-to-head: Gasparyan 1-1 Blinkova
Anna Blinkova is arguably playing as well as anyone in Luxembourg right now. The Russian young gun has delivered two dominant displays so far in the Grand Duchy, defeating the teen phenom and recent Linz Open champion Cori Gauff 6-4 6-0 in the first round before hammering Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-0 6-1 in the last 16. Margarita Gasparyan has also played some good ball so far, beating Jil Teichmann from a set down before ousting Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-2 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals. But if Blinkova maintains the level she has displayed so far in Luxembourg, she shouldn’t encounter too many difficulties in this one.
Prediction: Blinkova in 2
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Jelena Ostapenko vs Antonia Lottner
Head-to-head: first meeting
An in-form Ostapenko is dangerous for the rest of the field in Luxembourg. Ostapenko has shown no signs of fatigue, emotional or physical, after losing in the final in Linz last week. The Latvian took out the top seed Elise Mertens in three sets to maintain her fine run of form. Ostapenko recently started working with former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli and the pair appear to have established a productive working relationship early in their partnership. Lottner, as mentioned above, advanced to the quarterfinals after Andrea Petkovic retired after losing the opening set 6-1. The German is clearly at home in the conditions at the Luxembourg Open and has put together a good run after coming through qualifying. But she has yet to face an opponent of Ostapenko’s quality.
Prediction: Ostapenko in 2
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Monica Puig vs Julia Goerges
Head-to-head: Puig 4-2 Goerges
Monica Puig surprisingly hasn’t had too many issues in this match up in the past, winning four of the six matches she has played against the second seed Julia Goerges. She may well feel confident heading into this match, particularly as she has impressed this week. She made a superb start to her campaign at the Luxembourg Open, demolishing the Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro for the loss of just one game and then battled past Kristyna Pliskova in a three-set thriller. Goerges, meanwhile, has twice had to rally from a set down, doing so to beat Misaki Doi and Sorana Cirstea. But with Puig looking to have found her rhythm, don’t expect the German to pull off a third escape.
Prediction: Puig in 2
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