With 14 intriguing second-round matches on the schedule, there should be plenty of entertaining tennis on day three at the WTA Cincinnati Open. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, including Cori Gauff vs Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina vs Angelique Kerber and Karolina Pliskova vs Yulia Putintseva. But who will secure their spot in the third round in Ohio?
WTA Cincinnati Day 3 Predictions
Garbine Muguruza vs Caroline Garcia
Head-to-head: Muguruza 3-0 Garcia
It has been a disappointing stretch for Garbine Muguruza. The Spaniard has shown flashes of her best tennis, but proven unable to string it all together. That has resulted in a series of early exits, including in the third round at Wimbledon, the quarterfinals at the Olympics and in her opener last time out in Montreal. That is something she will doubtless be keen to put right this week at the WTA Cincinnati Open and she has been handed a kind second-round draw here.
Caroline Garcia is a very fine player when she is at her best and she has having a good week in Ohio, coming through the qualifying before outlasting Sloane Stephens in three sets in the first round. But she has also lost all three of her previous meetings with Muguruza, including on fast hard courts in Doha and Dubai. Their most recent meeting was in 2018, but not enough has changed in the interim to expect a different result if Muguruza plays anything like her best tennis.
Prediction: Muguruza in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Iga Swiatek vs Ons Jabeur
Head-to-head: Swiatek 1-1 Jabeur
This should be a very watchable match. Ons Jabeur has continued to impress this season and she arrived in Cincinnati having reached back-to-back quarterfinals at Wimbledon and in Montreal. She was handed a tough first-round draw up against the hard-hitting Anett Kontaveit, but she hung tough to edge out the Estonian 6-2 4-6 7-5. Things will not get any easier here, however, with Iga Swiatek one of the leading lights on the WTA Tour.
That being said, the Pole comes into this match after a period of poor form – at least by her high standards. She fell short of expectations at the French Open where she was defending champion and then lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon to none other than Jabeur. Success eluded her at the Olympics too as she lost in the second round to Paula Badosa. With wins having been in short supply then, do not be surprised to see Swiatek dealt another setback here.
Prediction: Jabeur in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Barbora Krejcikova vs Dayana Yastremska
Head-to-head: first meeting
Barbora Krejcikova made a fine start to her campaign at the WTA Cincinnati Open, brushing aside Daria Kasatkina for the loss of only five games to record her 37th win of what has been a career-best season in singles. Dayana Yastremska’s record for 2021 is a rather more modest 3-3 with the Ukrainian having missed the start of the season after a ban for a failed drugs test that was ultimately overturned. But she looked sharp in her 7-6 7-6 win over Catherine McNally. One suspects that the French Open champion Krejcikova will prove a sterner test of her credentials, however, one which may well be coming too soon for Yastremska.
Prediction: Krejcikova in 2
Embed from Getty Images
Shelby Rogers vs Belinda Bencic
Head-to-head: Bencic 3-1 Rogers
Belinda Bencic endured an indifferent first half of 2021. But since her bitterly disappointing 3-6 3-6 loss in the first round at the All England Club, Bencic has been in electric form. She stormed through the draw at the Tokyo Olympics to win the gold medal in singles (she also collected silver in the doubles) and she maintained that fine form in the first round in Cincinnati to beat 2019 French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova 6-3 7-5.
Shelby Rogers, meanwhile, benefitted from Danielle Collins retirement railing 4-6 1-2. It is hard to draw too many conclusions from that result, but there has been few other opportunities for Rogers to celebrate since Wimbledon. She reached the third round there, but has since lost in the first round in San Jose and Montreal. That run of form does not inspire great confidence in her chances against Bencic, particularly as she has lost three of their four previous encounters.
Prediction: Bencic in 3
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
