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WTA Palermo Ladies Open Quarterfinal Predictions Including Petra Martic vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich

Fiona Ferro in action at the WTA Palermo Ladies Open

Just eight women remain in contention at the WTA Palermo Ladies Open after what has been a thrilling start to the week at the first WTA event since February. All will surely be desperate to book their place in Saturday’s semifinals. But who will advance?

WTA Palermo Ladies Open Quarterfinal Predictions

Petra Martic vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich

Head-to-head: Martic 3-1 Sasnovich

Petra Martic enjoyed an excellent 2019 season, highlighted by her run to the quarterfinals at the French Open as well as her triumph at the Istanbul Cup, where she won the first WTA title of her career. And after a difficult start to 2020, she looks to have benefitted from the enforced break in the season. The Croatian opened her campaign in Palermo with an assured 6-3 6-0 win over Alison Van Uytvanck, before rallying past Liudmila Samsonova, 5-7 6-4 6-2.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich, meanwhile, remains rather inconsistent, but has played well so far at the WTA Palermo Ladies Open. After coming through the qualifying, Sasnovich scored an excellent first-round win over Elise Mertens, dismissing the Belgian 6-4 6-1. She backed that up by ending the charge of home hope Jasmine Paolini with a comprehensive 6-0 6-2 win. She will almost certainly be full of confidence when she steps on to court for her quarterfinal as a result.

But she has historically enjoyed relatively little success against Martic, with the Croatian having won three of their four previous meetings. That includes their most recent match, which came on the clay in Budapest in 2018. There was, however, little to split them in that match and there is every reason to suspect that this match will also be closely contested. But Martic has that much more quality on the clay and should just be able to edge out the Belarusian.

Prediction: Martic in 3
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Anett Kontaveit vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto

Head-to-head: first meeting

It has been an excellent week so far for Elisabetta Cocciaretto. She began her week by upsetting the experienced Polona Hercog before claiming one of the biggest wins of her fledgling career by beating sixth seed Donna Vekic 6-2 6-4. But the Italian looks set to face a stern quarterfinal test in the shape of Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, who reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open earlier this season and is seeded fourth at the WTA Palermo Ladies Open.

In the first round, Kontaveit proved too strong for Patricia-Maria Tig, beating the Romanian 6-3 6-3, and she backed that win up with a 3-6 6-2 6-2 win over Laura Siegemund, despite a slow start. A repeat of that could prove costly against Cocciaretto, who has been firing on all cylinders so far in Palermo, with her backhand having been particularly impressive. But Kontaveit has the power and the court-craft to make life uncomfortable for the young Italian. Expect that to prove decisive.

Prediction: Kontaveit in 3
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Camila Giorgi vs Dayana Yastremska

Head-to-head: Giorgi 1-1 Yastremska

Camila Giorgi has not always played her best tennis on clay, with her aggressive game generally better suited to faster surfaces than red clay. But she has looked sharp so far this week in Palermo, beating Rebecca Peterson, who won two WTA titles in 2019, in the first round, before battling past Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan from a set down to reach the quarterfinals. However, she looks set to face a stern test in the quarterfinals when she takes on the seventh-seeded Dayana Yastremska.

The Ukrainian has made a solid start to the week at the WTA Palermo Ladies Open. In the first round, she beat the dangerous Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain in straight-sets, 6-3 6-4, before defeating lucky loser Oceane Dodin 6-2 6-4, with her cause aided by a rash of double faults from the Frenchwoman. Those wins will surely have given Yastremska real confidence heading into this clash, as will her last meeting with Giorgi, which came in the first round at Wimbledon in 2019.

In that match, Yastremska ran out a comfortable 6-3 6-3 winner, albeit on grass rather than clay. But with the Ukrainian seemingly that much more adept at playing with patience and accuracy, the slower surface could well benefit her, although both Giorgi and Yastremska like to play their tennis on the front foot, so short rallies seem certain to be the order of the day. Still, expect the Ukrainian, who has looked the more composed of the two so far in Palermo, to win the majority of them.

Prediction: Yastremska in 3
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Sara Errani vs Fiona Ferro

Head-to-head: Ferro 1-0 Errani

Sara Errani has been rolling back the years in Palermo, with the veteran picking up excellent wins over Sorana Cirstea and Kristyna Pliskova, both in three sets. It is a welcome run of form for the former-French Open finalist, who has fallen from her career-high ranking of world #5 to 169th in the WTA standings, and she will surely now be desperate to book her place in her first WTA semifinal since 2017. But she will need to be at her very best up against Fiona Ferro.

The French young gun won all ten of the exhibition matches she played whilst the regular season was suspended and she appears to have carried that fine form into Palermo. She opened her campaign with a 6-1 6-2 win over the qualifier Nadia Podoroska and followed that by ousting Ekaterina Alexandrova, the eighth seed, in straight-sets. Ferro won an excellent 78% of the points behind her first serve in that match and broke the Russian’s serve five times.

She also beat Errani in their only previous match, which was played on clay in Rabat, rallying from a set down to win 1-6 6-3 6-4. It is hard to see Errani running her as close again in Palermo. The Italian deserves great credit for her battling performances so far in Palermo, but Ferro looks to be in excellent form and is perhaps a cut above the opposition Errani has faced so far at the Country Time Club. Expect Ferro to advance to the semifinals without encountering too much trouble.

Prediction: Ferro in 2

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