After a thrilling Wimbledon, they hybrid summer clay/hard court season kicks off. WTA Players who favor clay have travelled to beautiful Lausanne, Switzerland for this event. Sara Sorribes Tormo is the biggest name in action Day 1, and she is always a danger to make a deep run on clay. All six of the opening round matches are previewed right here at Last Word on Tennis.
WTA Lausanne Day 1 Predictions
Lucia Bronzetti vs Anastasia Potapova
Head-to-head: first meeting
Bronzetti is in the midst of a great year where she recently reached her career-high ranking of 71. She is most comfortable on clay, with her last five ITF finals coming on the surface, as well as her last two titles at that level. Potapova is an exciting talent who also plays her best on clay. She captured her first career WTA title on the clay in Istanbul in April of this year. Bronzetti picked up a good amount of wins on clay this year, though did not produce many results at tour-level against top competition. Potapova also fell off a bit in the larger tournaments but did have an incredible run to win Istanbul as a qualifier. Potapova couldn’t Wimbledon because she’s Russian and played just one match on grass so likely has been primarily still training on clay. Her talent outweighs Bronzetti and she comes in fresh so will start strong and get a convincing win.
Prediction: Potapova in 2
Clara Burel vs Lin Zhu
Head-to-head: first meeting
Burel hopes to right the ship after losing her last four matches, dropping her record to 7-15 in 2022. Zhu is a veteran who has never quite made it on the top level, but she did capture two ITF titles this year. Both players play best on hard, though Zhu will be glad to get off of grass where she lost all three of her matches. She had a nice run to the semis last week in Portugal, and finished the clay season strong by qualifying for the French Open. Burel switched to clay last week as well but lost her opening match in Bastad 6-2 6-1. Zhu will rely on her experience and the result of this will come down to form, which Burel has almost none of. Burel doesn’t have anywhere near her best game, and Zhu has been good enough to take advantage of that and outplay her.
Prediction: Zhu in 2
Lauren Davis vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
Head-to-head: 1-0 Davis
Davis will be looking to build on her early switch to clay where she reached the semifinal in Bastad last week. Sorribes Tormo looks to continue her strong clay season where she reached the quarterfinal of Madrid. Sorribes Tormo had to cut her clay season short after an injury, but she returned at Wimbledon where she looked healthy and made the second round. The Spaniard has historically been strong on clay with her high-energy game wearing down opponents. Davis is good on clay as well and will bring a battle. Sorribes Tormo has the advantage and her only major concern is the lingering injury preventing her physical style of play, but she has had several matches to get back into shape. Sorribes Tormo will use her great clay court game to get past Davis and into round two.
Predictions: Sorribes Tormo in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
