The final WTA 1000 event of the season continues in Indian Wells on Thursday where the remainder of the first round matches will be contested. Amanda Anisimova headlines the action on Day 2 of the women’s draw. Anisimova made her big breakthrough in the Californian desert in 2018 as a 16-year-old, making the semifinals of the 125K event before beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Petra Kvitova to reach the fourth round. Anisimova will be looking to recapture some of that form as she tries to push back up the rankings. Let’s take a look at her match against Katrina Scott and a couple of others from around the grounds.
As always, we here at LWOT will predict every single match. The rest of the day’s matches are split between three other articles. One features Katerina Siniakova vs Kim Clijsters, the second headlines Marketa Vondrousova vs Viktorija Golubic, and the third features Elsa Jacquemot vs Dayana Yastremska.
WTA Indian Wells Day 2 Predictions
Anastasija Sevastova vs Polona Hercog
H2H: Sevastova 3-1
Anastasija Sevastova is back in action for the first time since a rare first round exit at the US Open to Katerina Siniakova. Sevastova has lost six matches in a row–her last win was in early July at Wimbledon. It’s not all doom and gloom for the Latvian heading into this first round clash as she comes up against a struggling opponent. Polona Hercog is having a poor season and as a result her ranking has dropped to #123 in the world. It’s hard to pick Sevastova with much confidence given her recent form, but she is the better player and should eventually be able to get over the line in this match-up.
Prediction: Sevastova in 3
Saisai Zheng vs Magdalena Frech
H2H: Frech 1-0
Magdalena Frech successfully qualified for the maindraw thanks to wins over Lizette Cabrera (7-6 6-2) and Rebecca Marino (6-3 4-6 6-3). The Pole has a very winnable opening round match-up in the main draw as she faces China’s Saisai Zheng. Frech defeated Zheng in their only previous meeting, a 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory in grass in Birmingham back in 2018. Zheng arrives in Indian Wells on the back of one of the worst losses of her career, beaten by world #910 Maria Kozyreva in the opening round of an ITF 60K event last week. It’s hard to pick Zheng here on the back of such a horrific loss. Frech is used to the conditions having come through qualifying and won their previous clash, the Pole seems like the safer pick here.
Prediction: Frech in 3
Lauren Davis vs Nuria Parrizas-Diaz
H2H: First meeting
Nuria Parrizas-Diaz is up to a career high ranking of #70 having just won the WTA 125K event in Columbus last week. The 30-year-old Spaniard has won a heap of matches in 2021, a 53-15 win/loss record to her name. Almost all of those victories were at the ITF level. Meanwhile, Lauren Davis is far from her best at the moment. The American sits at #97 in the world, a mile away from her career best ranking of #26. Davis has been in okay form of late, reaching the quarterfinals of the Columbus 125K event a few weeks ago. There’s no doubt that Parrizas-Dias is in better form, but Davis is capable in this match-up, especially in these conditions. The courts in Indian Wells suit Davis nicely. They reward heavy topspin which she has a heap of. I’ll side with the American here.
Prediction: Davis in 3
Amanda Anisimova vs Katrina Scott
H2H: Anisimova 1-0
Amanda Anisimova is languishing at #81 in the world, far from her career high ranking of #21. The 20-year-old has shown some better signs of late but has admittedly been unable to gain much momentum thanks to some rough draws. Anisimova’s last three completed losses have been against top ten opponents, twice to Karolina Pliskova and once against Elina Svitolina. Anisimova has a chance to make a strong start in Indian Wels against local wild card Katrina Scott. It’s hard to gauge Scott’s ability at this level given her vast inexperience, she showed some decent signs at the Concord challenger event a few weeks ago where she beat Lauren Davis and Caroline Dolehide before succumbing to Magdalena Frech in 3 sets at the quarterfinal stage. Scott did manage to push Anisimova to three sets when they met at the US Open last year, though Anisimova did finish it off quite comfortably, a 4-6 6-4 6-1 victory. Expect Anisimova to be better prepared on this occasion and claim a more comfortable victory.
Prediction: Anisimova in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
