There should be plenty of entertaining tennis on day two at the WTA Cincinnati Open with 14 matches on the schedule and, as always, here at LWOT will be offering up our predictions for every match, including Serena Williams vs Emma Raducanu, Coco Gauff vs Marie Bouzkova and Simona Halep vs Anastasia Potapova. But who will advance?
WTA Cincinnati Day 2 Predictions
Martina Trevisan vs Anna Kalinskaya
Head-to-head: Kalinskaya 1-0 Trevisan
Martina Trevisan propelled herself to a career-high ranking of #24 after reaching the semifinals of the French Open but the Italian is a clay-court specialist if there ever was one. The 28-year-old took a set off Beatriz Haddad Maia last week in Toronto but has also suffered losses against the likes of Yuan Yue, Stefanie Voegele, and Kimberly Birrell on hard this season. Hardly the most formidable opponents on the WTA Tour.
Anna Kalinskaya, meanwhile, will be glad to be back on her favorite surface, reaching the quarterfinals of Washington two weeks ago, taking a set off eventual finalist Kaia Kanepi. The Russian came through qualifying in Cincinnati without dropping a set, beating Tatjana Maria and Anastasia Potapova. Kalinskaya came out on top when she faced off against Trevisan last season and I expect her to win again.
Prediction: Kalinskaya in 2
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Anett Kontaveit vs Tereza Martincova
Head-to-head: Kontaveit 1-0 Martincova
It has been mostly been a disappointing season for Anett Kontaveit, especially since February. The Estonian won the title in St. Petersburg and reached finals in Doha and Hamburg. Since the Hamburg final though, Kontaveit won just two games against Anastasia Potapova in the Prague quarterfinals and lost her Toronto opener to Jil Teichmann.
Tereza Martincova has a losing record on the season but has started to win some matches on North American hard courts, going 6-2 and only losing to Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic so far. In Cincinnati, the Czech came back from 2-5 down in the third set of her first qualifying round against Irina-Camelia Begu, following it up with a good win over Magda Linette. In her first round, Martincova took out Nuria Parrizas-Diaz in three sets but Kontaveit should be winning this one.
Prediction: Kontaveit in 2
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Belinda Bencic vs Sorana Cirstea
Head-to-head: Cirstea 1-0 Bencic
Belinda Bencic is ramping up towards a strong hard-court autumn after an injury in the Berlin final halted the Swiss’ progress and limited her at Wimbledon. Last week, the 25-year-old defeated Serena Williams and Garbine Muguruza en route to the quarterfinals in Toronto. Somewhat surprisingly, however, it is Sorana Cirstea leads the head-to-head here, beating Bencic in a Melbourne warm-up last year, though she does come into Cincinnati in worse form.
The Romanian has had some strong runs this season, reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open as well as three WTA semifinals, but she has also only won one in her last five matches. Bencic should certainly enter this match a favourite and I expect her to set up an exciting second-round clash with Petra Kvitova.
Prediction: Bencic in 2
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Karolina Pliskova vs Venus Williams
Head-to-head: Pliskova 2-1 Williams
Definitely the blockbuster match-up from this line-gup, seven-time slam champion Venus Williams faces off with former world #1 Karolina Pliskova. The Czech enters as the obvious favorite, defending a semifinal from last season in Cincinnati and winning it all here in 2016. It has been a tough season for her, only returning from injury in March, but the 30-year-old finally looked back to her best in Toronto last week.
Pliskova beat the likes of Amanda Anisimova and Maria Sakkari on her way to the semifinals. Williams is looking for her first win since Wimbledon 2021, losing both her matches this season. The 42-year-old went a set up against Rebecca Marino in Washington but won just five games against Jil Teichmann last week. As her sister Serena more or less announced her intention to retire at the US Open this year, one has to think that Venus will follow her. It would be a shock if Williams got the win over Pliskova here.
Prediction: Pliskova in 2
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