The quarterfinals are here! It’s been an incredible week of tennis at the WTA Warsaw Open in Gdynia and we are down to the final eight competitors fighting for the singles title. Who will win and who will fall short? Read on for my best guesses!
WTA Gdynia Quarterfinal Predictions
Anna Bondar vs Tamara Korpatsch
Head to Head: 1-0 Korpatsch
Anna Bondar has done very well to qualify and then make the quarterfinals of Gdynia. This included a huge second round win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in three sets. In that match, Bondar served very well, winning 73% of her first-serve points and 64% of her second-serve points. Tamara Korpatsch was a point away from losing in the first round to Olga Govortsova, but fought back admirably to win in a third set. She then easily dispatched Weronika Falkowska to make the quarterfinals. Falkowska was unable to fend off the Korpatsch return, as the German won 55% of her return points during that match.
Korpatsch leads the head to head 1-0, but a singular meeting doesn’t say much about how this one will go. Korpatsch is a very tough opponent to hit through and doesn’t give away a lot of cheap points, so Bondar will have to work very hard to beat her. Expect Korpatsch depth and consistentcy to force Bondar to overhit and allow the German to move on to the final four.
Prediction: Korpatsch in 3
Ekaterine Gorgodze vs Kristina Kucova
Head to Head: 3-1 Kucova
Ekaterine Gorgodze has made the quarterfinals from qualifying and only dropped one set in the process. In her previous match with Varvara Lepchenko, Gorgodze won 74% of her first-serve points serving at 82% first serves in. Lepchenko, on the other hand, only won 52% of her first-serve points. Kristina Kucova did well to recover from a set down to beat Irina Maria Bara in the second round of Gdynia. Kucova created 17 break chances on the Bara serve and broke seven times!
Kucova leads the head to head 3-1 (all three wins on clay, but Gordodze won the most recent meeting (on a hard court). Kucova is playing decent clay-court tennis, but Gorgodze has the game to force Kucova out of her comfort zone and not allow her to set up on her two-handed groundstrokes. Gorgodze plays with more power than Bara too and will not allow Kucova the chance to dictate like she did against Bara. Gorgodze wins.
Prediction: Gorgodze in 3
Nuria Parrizas-Diaz vs Maryna Zanevska
Head to Head: never played
Nuria Parrizas-Diaz did well to beat a tricky opponent in Amina Anshba to reach the quarterfinals. Parrizas-Diaz controlled the baseline well and held Anshba to 44% service points won. Maryna Zanevska has continued her good form in Gdynia, reaching the quarterfinals without losing a set after semifinal performance in Lausanne last week. In her second round match against Viktoria Kuzmova, Zanevska won 69% of her service points, while on the other hand, Kuzmova only won 47% of her service points. That’s an impressive differential!
These two have never played before. Parrizas-Diaz has the bigger game from the ground, but Zanevska is more consistent from the baseline. Zanevska is clearly full of confidence and playing well, but Parrizas-Diaz did win the WTA Challenger in Bastad a couple weeks ago, so her form isn’t so lousy either. This match will come down to whether Parrizas-Diaz’s aggression wins out over the depth and consistency that Zanevska has brought to the table. Expect Parrizas-Diaz to overhit just enough for Zanevska to squeak by with the win.
Prediction: Zanevska in 3
Katarzyna Kawa vs Kateryna Kozlova
Head to Head: never played
Katarzyna Kawa pulled off a huge upset win against Irina Begu to advance to the quarterfinals. Kawa held Begu to only 29% second-serve points won, but will need to be careful on her own second serve, as she served up 7 double faults during the match. Kateryna Kozlova is continuing her good form from Budapest, where she made the quarterfinals. She beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round from a set down.
These two have never played before. Kozlova’s win over Sasnovich was impressive and she’s in the better form of the two players. However, Kawa, who is Polish, will have the home fans on her side. Even with that advantage, while Kawa hits a heavy ball, her groundstrokes don’t penetrate the court in a way that would seriously trouble Kozlova. While Kawa should put up a fight, expect Kozlova to get the win in the end.
Prediction: Kozlova in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
