The WTA event in the Netherlands (Den Bosch) has top two seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic both in action hoping to rectify poor Roland Garros showings and get in form for the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon.
WTA Den Bosch Day 3 Predictions
Catherine McNally vs Tamara Zidansek
Head-to-head: McNally 1-0
She’s only 20 years of age, but so far for McNally the success just hasn’t happened on the singles court despite the polar opposite being the case in doubles. Mind you, the World #229 has done well to qualify here and also win her opening match in straight sets. Unfortunately for her now she’s up against fourth seed Zidansek which will be a much firmer test. It’s surprising to see McNally has won their only encounter, a meeting in Mexico last year but given that win and the fact the Slovakian has no noticeable results on the grass, the American has a very good shot of providing an upset against someone ranked 170 places higher than her.
Prediction: McNally in 3
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Anhelina Kalinina
Head-to-head: Alexandrova 2-0
An interesting second round encounter here between a Russian and Ukrainian both ranked inside the world’s top 35. On paper it’s hard to see who holds the advantage on a grass court because to be frank, both have fairly bad results on the surface. What makes it even harder to determine is both have had fairly good clay court seasons the last few months and overall more or less identical. Purely because of the head-to-head and that Alexandrova has never lost a set to the Ukrainian, I have her as favorite.
Prediction: Alexandrova in 3
Anna Kalinskaya vs Belinda Bencic
Head-to-head: 0-0
Belinda Bencic’s career has been a strange one where now at 25 years of age, it’s fair to say everyone expected more. The truth is despite good results here and there, they’re never backed up–such as an Olympic Gold last year followed by not too much, the same with a win in Charleston a few months ago with no noticeable results since. Despite that though, we all know how good the Swiss woman is and can be and her game will be too much for the Russian to handle.
Prediction: Bencic in 2
Aryna Sabalenka vs Arianne Hartono
Head-to-head: 0-0
To put it lightly, it’s been an awful year for the world #6. Going from the world’s second best player for the second half of 2021, there’s no wonder the Belarusian has dropped down the rankings. Thankfully for her sake she still finds herself in the world’s top 10 but unless her form improves soon that may not be the case much longer. The 24 year old’s game does suit grass however as we found out last year at Wimbledon where she made the semi-finals barely losing to Karolina Pliskova. Even though she is unable to play the event this year in SW19, it would be nice to see her build form again and that’s what she should do here with a very nice easy win against the World #172.
Prediction: Sabalenka in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
