There should be plenty of entertaining tennis on day two at the WTA Budapest Grand Prix with ten intriguing first-round matches on the slate in the Hungarian capital. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Anhelina Kalinina vs Anna Kalinskaya and Timea Babos vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich. But who will reach the second round?
WTA Budapest Day 2 Predictions
Varvara Lepchenko vs Ana Bogdan
Head-to-head: first meeting
Ana Bogdan’s clay-court season may not have captured many headlines, but the Romanian played some very fine tennis, reaching the quarterfinals in Istanbul – where she beat soon-to-be crowned French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova – and the third round at Roland Garros. Wimbledon, the only grass-court tournament she played, proved to be less rewarding as she lost 2-6 2-6 in the first round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but she may prove hard to beat back on her favoured surface.
The veteran Varvara Lepchenko may also be glad to be back on the terre battue. She has found wins relatively hard to come by in recent weeks, but did come through the qualifying to reach the second round at the French Open. Still, there was relatively little in her performance in a 4-6 2-6 defeat to Nuria Parrizas-Diaz in Bastad to suggest that she will beat a player of Bogdan’s ability here. This could be a comfortable day at the office for the Romanian.
Prediction: Bogdan in 2
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Mayar Sherif vs Panna Udvardy
Head-to-head: first meeting
Ons Jabeur has been making history for Arabic women’s tennis, reaching two Grand Slam quarterfinals including last week on the hallowed lawns at the All England Club. Mayar Sherif has been looking to make a similar contribution to the history of Egyptian women’s tennis and, albeit on a smaller scale, she deserves credit for her achievements, most notably coming through the qualifying at Roland Garros last season.
That made her the first Egyptian woman to play in the main draw at a Grand Slam and she made more history by reaching the second round at the Australian Open. Nonetheless, it is clay that appears to be her preferred surface and she is in good form having made the final at an ITF-event in Montpellier and the last eight in Bastad. Panna Udvardy, meanwhile, looks to have a bright future. But this may be a challenge too far too soon for the inexperienced Hungarian, currently ranked 204th in the world.
Prediction: Sherif in 3
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Tamara Korpatsch vs Olga Danilovic
Head-to-head: Danilovic 1-0 Korpatsch
Olga Danilovic won this pair’s only previous meeting – which came on the clay in Hechingen – at a canter, losing only four games in a dominant quarterfinal victory. She went on to reach the final, adding another impressive result to a C.V. that also included a WTA International title won in Moscow in 2018. But the Serbian has struggled to back that early success up and she currently finds herself marooned outside the world’s top 150.
Tamara Korpatsch, meanwhile, has been in largely indifferent form of late. She has not reached a quarterfinal at any level this season, with a run through the qualifying in Stuttgart and a second-round showing in Bad Homburg her best results this season. With Danilovic having won their last match so comfortably and impressed in beating Irene Burillo Escorihuela and Miriam Bianca Bulgaru in the qualifying, Korpatsch may have to wait a little longer to turn her poor form around.
Prediction: Danilovic in 3
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