The journey to Roland Garros continues its course. While the tour heavyweights remain in Madrid, there’s a WTA 125 event in the French city of Saint-Malo featuring a slew of Top 100 players. Who will survive the first test on Monday?
We also predict the rest of Monday’s matches in a separate article.
WTA Saint-Malo Monday Predictions
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Alison Van Uytvanck
Head to head: Schmiedlova 4-3 Van Uytvanck
People love bashing Ashleigh Barty or Roger Federer for benefitting from the frozen rankings. Well, Van Uytvanck has secured her spot in the Top 75 owing to a good stretch back in 2019. Her results have been suboptimal since. Moreover, she’s just returned from a three-month layoff last week in Madrid. Her rival was none other than Schmiedlova, who defeated her 0-6 6-2 6-0. Usually those bizarre results linger in your memory for at least a week, so I’m expecting the Slovakian to prevail.
Prediction: Schmiedlova in 2
Yafan Wang vs Harmony Tan
Head to head: first meeting
Figuratively speaking, of course, but Wang is in the emergency room. The 27-year-old Chinese is 1-9 on the season and has not won a set against a Top 400 opponent since early February at the Australian Open. Her ranking has plummeted accordingly to No. 122. Contrarily, Tan might be playing the best tennis of her career. The Frenchwoman has accumulated six tour-level wins on clay this campaign, as well as a $60K title on hard. Look for the 23-year-old wild card to produce a scalp.
Prediction: Tan in 3
Clara Tauson vs Amandine Hesse
Tauson is a rising youngster who really should be in main draws on her own by now. This match is only a qualifier, but the young Dane should be able to make the main draw with ease.
Prediction: Tauson in 2
Alize Cornet vs Oceane Dodin
Head to head: first meeting
Both players need a win badly. Cornet, who is the No. 1 seed in Brittany, has dropped three consecutive matches, including the last two against youngsters Linda Fruhrvitova and Xiyu Wang. Meanwhile, Dodin’s losing streak extends to four matches, including two versus foes outside the Top 200. This should be a very mental affair. I trust Cornet more on a slow clay court at sea level.
Prediction: Cornet in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
