There should be plenty of entertaining action on day two at the WTA Cluj Open, with 11 first-round matches on the schedule in Romania. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for all 11 matches, including Alize Cornet vs Mayar Sherif and Martina Trevisan vs Kristyna Pliskova. But who will come out on top?
WTA Cluj Day 2 Predictions
Mihaela Buzarnescu vs Viktoriya Tomova
Head-to-head: Buzarnescu 3-0 Tomova
Mihaela Buzarnescu has not had a particularly impressive season, but she has found a measure of form of late. She reached the semifinals at the WTA Swedish Open before beating Alison Riske in the first round at the Tokyo Olympics. She did lose 1-6 2-6 in the second round to Marketa Vondrousova, but that defeat does not look so bad in the wake of the Czech winning the silver medal in the Japanese capital. She has some reason to feel confident heading into this match as a result.
All the more so because she has won all three of her previous meetings with Viktoriya Tomova. The Bulgarian, meanwhile, has been struggling badly of late. She has not won a match since beating Irene Burillo Escorihuela in the first round of qualifying at Wimbledon. That does not inspire much confidence in her chances heading into this match. Expect Buzarnescu to have enough to reach the second round without encountering too many problems.
Prediction: Buzarnescu in 2
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Anna-Lena Friedsam vs Irina Bara
Head-to-head: first meeting
Anna-Lena Friedsam made a fine start to her campaign at the Tokyo Olympics, beating Great Britain’s Heather Watson in the first round in straight sets. But she won just two games in the second round as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova dumped her out of the tournament. As a result, she arrives at the WTA Cluj Open having not won back-to-back matches since reaching the final round of qualifying at the French Open, something she will no doubt be hoping to change this week.
Irina Bara has not exactly been tearing up trees of late either. The Romanian has reached the second round at the last three tournaments she has played, but she last played in a quarterfinal in the second week of June. She will, however, have the motivation of playing on home soil when she takes to the court in Cluj. There does not look to be much between the pair so that home advantage may well prove to be decisive.
Prediction: Bara in 3
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Aleksandra Krunic vs Yuki Naito
Head-to-head: first meeting
Few players move around the court than the fleet-footed Aleksandra Krunic. It is that smothering defence that once took her ranking inside the top 40. But the Serbian has lost her way in recent seasons and currently finds herself ranked outside the top 250, with injury also not helping her cause. She has played some good tennis on the clay of late, however, coming through the qualifying at Roland Garros and now at the WTA Cluj Open.
Yuki Naito missed out on the chance to play at a home Olympics, with her ranking not high enough for her to qualify for Tokyo. The young gun’s recent form has also been far from impressive. Since winning an ITF 25k title in Buenos Aires in March, she has not won a match in singles and has been out of action since losing in the first round of qualifying at Roland Garros. With Krunic having impressed in the qualifying, expect the Serbian to have the edge here.
Prediction: Krunic in 2
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Alexandra Eala vs Paula Ormaechea
Head-to-head: first meeting
There is no doubt who has the advantage of experience heading into this match. Paula Ormachea has spent the majority of her career playing below WTA Tour-level, but she has been ranked as high as 59th in the world and she has won 352 matches since turning professional in 2007. Alexandra Eala, meanwhile, was only born in 2005 and the 16-year-old has not yet broken into the world’s top 600, nevermind had a ranking in double digits.
It will be interesting to see how she handles this step up to WTA Tour action up against the experienced Argentine. Unfortunately for Eala, there is little in her recent exploits to suggest that she is ready to pull off a shock. She was seeded second in the girls’ singles at the French Open and Wimbledon, but lost in the first round at the former and the second round at the latter. Eala clearly has a bright future, but this looks likely to be a challenge too far too soon for the Filipino.
Prediction: Ormaechea in 2
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