The final is here! It’s been an incredible week of clay-court tennis at the WTA Gdynia Open and we are down to the final two: Kristina Kucova and Maryna Zanevska Both players have been competing at a very high level this week and will need one more high-quality performance to bring home the title. And the stakes couldn’t be much higher, as neither player has won a title at a higher-level than a $125k event. Who will be lifting the winner’s trophy and who will fall short?
WTA Gdynia Final Prediction
Kristina Kucova vs Maryna Zanevska
Head-to-head: Zanevska 4-1 Kucova
Kucova played unbelievably solid tennis to take down Tamara Korpatsch in the semifinals, given that she played a nearly four-hour quarterfinal match against Ekaterine Gorgodze the day before. Kucova controlled the baseline at a very high level and rips her two-handed groundstrokes with incredible accuracy. Against Korpatsch, Kucova won 87% of her first-serve points and held Korpatsch to 35% of her service points won. Korpatsch only held serve twice all match and was broken six times!
Zanevska, meanwhile, has been continuing her good recent form in Gdynia. Last week in Lausanne, Zanevska made the semifinals and now she’s into a WTA final. Zanevska is solid from the baseline and makes it very difficult for her opponents to hit through her. Zanevska won a three-set tussle with Kateryna Kozlova in the semifinals, holding Kozlova to 50% of her service points won. Zanevska broke the Kozlova serve six times (although these six were spaced out over three sets, versus two sets for the Kucova semifinal).
Zanevska leads the head to head 4-1, which includes a 2-1 edge on clay and a four-match winning streak for the Belgian. Despite a good performance against Korpatsch, one has to wonder if that Gorgodze match will catch up to Kucova here. That was extremely physical tennis and now she’ll have to face another physical player in Zanevska. And Zanevska has a way of turning defense-into-offense with consistent depth in a way that Korpatsch lacks.
Prediction: Zanevska in 2
Main photo:
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