The action heats up at the inaugural WTA Tenerife Ladies Open on Tuesday where a bunch of first round matches are to be completed. The top seeded Elina Svitolina will be among those to kick-start their campaigns on day two when she takes on Colombian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano. Will it be smooth sailing for the World #6? We also predict the rest of the day’s matches, split between two other articles. One features Aliona Bolsova vs Camila Giorgi, and the other features Heater Watson vs Clara Tauson.
WTA Tenerife Day 2 Predictions
Viktorija Golubic vs Arantxa Rus
H2H: Golubic 1-0
An interesting match-up between a couple of crafty players who each enter this tournament at career high rankings. Golubic finds herself at #45 in the world, whilst Rus sits at #58. Both have momentum on their side.
Golubic is coming off a good week in Indian Wells, where she claimed a couple of strong wins over Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari before eventually succumbing to Anna Kalinskaya. Golubic is having her best season. The Swiss has 47 wins to her name in 2021, highlighted by a maiden quarterfinal showing at a Major at Wimbledon. Rus has 36 victories to her name in 2021, the majority of those have been at the ITF level. Golubic should be a class above Rus here. Rus does the majority of her work at lower level events on clay; this is out of that comfort zone. Golubic has shown far more ability away from clay in recent times and should have too much class for Rus in these conditions.
Prediction: Golubic in 3
Alize Cornet vs Stefanie Voegele
H2H: 3-3
Alize Cornet may not be the player she once was, but she’s still a solid player and should be too tricky for Stefanie Voegele. Cornet’s run to the final in Chicago a few months ago showed that she’s still a very capable at this level, as did a semifinal run in Berlin earlier in the season. Voegele has barely won any main draw tour level matches this year, but did manage to qualify here thanks to straight set wins over Tereza Mrdeza and Kirsten Flipkens. It’s hard to see Voegele progressing any further even if she does have some past success in this match-up. Cornet’s base level is much higher at the moment, and she should be troublesome opponents for the Swiss player given her poor recent form.
Prediction: Cornet in 2
Elina Svitolina vs María Camila Osorio Serrano
H2H: First meeting.
Top seed Elina Svitolina isn’t expected to have many problems in her opening round match against Osorio Serrano. The Ukrainian needs to go all the way this week to boost her chances of qualifying for the upcoming WTA Finals in Guadalajara. Svitolina currently sits in 11th place. Nothing other than lifting the trophy this week will be acceptable for Svitolina if she wants to meaningfully boost her Guadalajara chances.
Svitolina arrives in the Canary Islands fresh from one her worst losses of the season, a fourth round Indian Wells loss to Jessica Pegula where she won just two games. Svitolina’s recent form is still good–a title in Chicago, followed by quarterfinal showings at the US Open and the Chicago fall event. Meanwhile, Osorio Serrano has lost seven of her last eight matches ever since her historic run to the third round at Wimbledon and looks totally outclassed in this match-up. Svitolina’s consistency should be too much for the erratic Colombian to handle. This is the type of match Svitolina usually cruises through.
Prediction: Svitolina in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
