Second round matches commence on Wednesday at the WTA Tenerife Ladies Open on the Canary Islands. The first round was full of upsets, leaving the draw wide open with chances aplenty those remaining. The bottom half of the draw will be in action on Day 3. This half of the draw is particularly open after every single seed was eliminated in the opening round.
WTA Tenerife Day 3 Predictions
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Jaqueline Cristian
H2H: Schmiedlova 1-0
Jaqueline Cristian caused the one of the first big upsets of the tournament when she eliminated the second seeded Tamara Zidansek 7-5 4-6 6-1. A notable victory for the young Romanian, who cruised through the qualifying draw with straight set wins over Mona Barthel and Lesley Kerkhove. Schmiedlova secured her spot in the second round with a 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory over Kaja Juvan. Cristian has the slightly better recent form on hard courts, but Schmiedlova has the head-to-head advantage and experience on her side. Schmiedlova won the only previous meeting between the pair, a 7-5 6-2 victory last year at the Prague 125K event on clay. This should be an even match-up–it’stough to predict a winner. I’ll side with the more experienced Schmiedlova. the Slovakian has a steadier style and more experience at this level.
Prediction: Schmiedlova in 3
Ann Li vs Varvara Gracheva
H2H: First meeting
Varvara Gracheva pulled off an astonishing victory to clinch her spot in the second round, a 6-4 5-7 7-6 win over third seed Sara Sorribes Tormo in three and a half hours. Gracheva trailed 1-5 in the deciding set before pulling off the unlikeliest of comebacks. Ann Li also fought from behind to reach the second round, a 2-6 6-4 6-1 win for the American over Nuria Parrizas-Diaz. This looks like a great opportunity for Li to claim back-to-back main draw wins at a WTA event for the first time since her semifinal run in Monterrey in March. Gracheva is surely running low on energy after such a gruelling first round win, with less than 24 hours to recover. Li is a solid opponent who will make this another physical battle. The young American should have the edge in this situation.
Prediction: Li in 3
Xinyu Wang vs Alize Cornet
H2H: Cornet 1-0
Xinyu Wang has already secured three dominant victories this week. Wang cruised through the qualifying draw with straight set wins over Ivana Jorovic (6-0 6-1) and Ann Bondar (6-1 6-3). her dominance continued in the opening round of the main draw ,where she beat the sixth seeded Shuai Zhang 6-2 6-1. Alize Cornet also had little trouble progressing to the second round as she recorded a 6-1 6-2 opening round victory over Stefanie Voegele. Cornet won the only previous meeting between the pair, a 6-4 6-2 win at the Australian Open in 2018. Wang has improved significantly since then, but I’ll still give the slight edge to the more experienced and versatile Cornet.
Prediction: Cornet in 3
Donna Vekic vs Irina-Camelia Begu
H2H: Begu 3-0
Donna Vekic will be seeking her first victory over Irina-Camelia Begu in her fourth attempt. Vekic arrived in Tenerife having lost eight of her last ten matches, but has shown some signs of a form reversal this week. The Croatian moved through the qualifying draw with wins over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (6-0 6-2) and Ysaline Bonaventure (6-2 4-6 6-1). Vekic progressed through the opening round of the main draw with a 6-1 6-4 win over eighth seed Alison Riske.
Begu will be playing to reach her fourth quarterfinal on a hard court in 2021. The Romanian started her Tenerife campaign with a 6-4 6-4 win against Marta Kostyuk. Begu has won all three previous meetings, including a 3-6 7-6 6-1 triumph in Istanbul in 2018 in their most recent clash. Clearly Vekic doesn’t like this match-up. There isn’t too much to suggest Vekic will finally beat Begu on this occasion given her poor recent form and Begu’s solid recent form.
Prediction: Begu in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
