Day 2 of this loaded WTA tournament in Doha will hopefully be as dramatic as the opening day. Three matches are previewed in this article, with others available on the Last Word On Tennis site. We split the matches between three other articles, featuring Simona Halep vs Caroline Garcia, Ana Konjuh vs Anett Kontaveit, and Garbine Muguruza vs Sorana Cirstea. Let’s see who may win through into the next round.
WTA Doha Predictions Day 2
Elena Rybakina vs Jaqueline Cristian
Head-to-head: Rybakina 1-0 Cristian
Their first and only meeting so far in 2019 was an absolute rout. Cristian won only one game in the match as Rybakina totally overpowered her on the clay. Different surface today but a real chance of a similar outcome. Rybakina has been in very good form this season, but appears to have struggled with her body. The Kazakh reached the Adelaide final in the opening week of the season but since then her form has read Win, Withdraw, Win, Retirement, Win, Withdraw. Assuming she completes this match it should be a win.
Prediction: Rybakina in 2
Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu
Head-to-head: Kvitova 5-1 Begu
On the face of it this looks as though it should be plain sailing for the experienced Czech. However, Begu put a real spanner in the works two weeks ago when she smashed Kvitova indoors in St. Petersburg. Kvitova showed some better form in Dubai though and is the defending champion here so she clearly loves conditions in this part of the world. Begu will undoubtedly give a good account of herself but the historical record here and recent form makes me believe that Kvitova will have the confidence to come through.
Prediction: Kvitova in 3
Shelby Rogers vs Coco Gauff
Head-to-head: Gauff 1-0 Rogers
Both women have very similar records to each other on the hard courts in the last twelve months. Around a 60% win rate for both and with 71-72% hold of serve ratios both women are quite serve oriented. It is Rogers who owns the better break numbers though so she definitely has a good chance in this match. Just to continue the similarities both have won five and lost five of their last ten matches and neither have won since the Australian Open. Whoever does win this match will be able to take a massive confidence boost into their next match. I am going to lean towards Shelby Rogers here. Her extra experience could help here and, if Gauff isn’t 100% on it with her serve then Rogers has a chance to get into Gauff’s service games here.
Prediction: Rogers in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
