Eight singles matches are on the schedule for the third day of the 2021 WTA Belgrade Ladies Open. Hamburg runner-up Andrea Petkovic will take on Jessika Ponchet. Who do you think will prevail? We predict all eight matches, split between this and a separate article.
Irina Maria Bara vs Tara Wurth
Head-to-head: First meeting
18-year-old Tara Wurth is enjoying a great season on the ITF circuit, and will finally get a chance to test herself against a much higher-ranked opponent. Irina Maria Bara hasn’t quite had a run like at the last year’s French Open (when she reached the third-round), but the Romanian is regularly playing against opponents of much higher quality than the Croatian. Wurth can test her, but the experience should prevail.
Prediction: Bara in 3
Martina Trevisan vs Ulrike Eikkeri
Head-to-head: 1-1
This really hasn’t been a great season for either of them. Ulrike Eikkeri won just two matches in her last eight events and it came to a point where her opening win over Lesia Tsurenko has to be regarded as a bit of a shock. Martina Trevisan is doing even worse, with only five match wins in the whole season. However, she’s been playing against better opposition in bigger events, and also scored two wins in the Bundesliga recently, which should let her rebuild some of the lost confidence.
Prediction: Trevisan in 3
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Jule Niemeier
Head-to-head: First meeting
Jule Niemeier is looking like the real deal this season, with a 24-6 win/loss record on clay and main tour semifinals at Hamburg and Strasbourg. The young German is flying right now and proved it in a win over Viktoriya Tomova in the opening round. While Anna Karolina Schmiedlova has a lot more experience, her very indifferent form of late doesn’t bode well against a player who’s been winning so much in the past few months.
Prediction: Niemeier in 3
Jessika Ponchet vs Andrea Petkovic
Head-to-head: First meeting
Andrea Petkovic is coming off one of her best runs in a while at Hamburg, where she eliminated Yulia Putinsteva and lost in the finals to Elena-Gabriela Ruse. The German’s still wildly inconsistent in terms of her level, which was evident in her opener against 16-year-old Lola Radivojevic. But Jessika Ponchet has mostly been competing in hard court ITFs recently and hasn’t faced a tough opponent in Belgrade yet. If Petkovic can bring her level from Hamburg, she should take it comfortably.
Prediction: Petkovic in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
