Monday will see a full day of round 1 action in Istanbul at the TEB BNP Paribas Tennis Championship (WTA Istanbul) on the clay. Here is your look at round 1 action, we have predictions for all of the matches tomorrow including Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s match.
Fiona Ferro vs Petra Martic
Martic is capable on clay but has struggled in 2021 with three losses in a row on her resume at the moment. Ferro, in a more limited match resume, has her best career record on clay and has a semifinal this season in Lyon. The fact Martic is seeded shouldn’t make her a heavy favourite, in fact I give Ferro a small edge in what should be a quality match. Ferro in 3
Viktorjia Golubic vs Nuria Parrizas Diaz
20-4 in 2021, can anyone stop Viktorjia Golubic? The Swiss hasn’t lost an opening match in 2021 and has a pair of WTA finals on her resume. Parrizas Diaz is also a form player, with a 19-2 record, all but 2 of those 19 wins came on the ITF level though and it remains to be seen if Parrizas Diaz can transfer her incredible run at the ITF level to the WTA level. The quarters in Bogota as a qualifier were a good indicator however and this should be one of the best matches of April. This is a tough call but Golubic’s WTA resume thus far in 2021 should give her the advantage. Golubic in 3
Anastasia Gasanova vs Qiang Wang
A quarterfinalist in St. Petersburg, Gasanova has shown signs of improvement this season (en route to a career high ranking of 178). Wang has started her season on the WTA tour just 3-8 and is not her best on clay. This looks like another match where the rankings are deceitful, on form alone Gasanova should prevail, given her better record on clay as well. Gasanova in 2
Sorana Cirstea vs Kateryna Kozlova
Cirstea has started the season flat at 6-5, Kozlova is just 2-6 though and nothing in her current season suggests she would beat Cirstea. This tournament perhaps represents an opportunity for Cirstea to find form on the clay and boost her performance. Cirstea in 2
Main Photo:
