A surprisingly deep draw in Tampico sees the likes of Leylah Fernandez and Elise Mertens headlining the group of players. Fernandez is in action on Tuesday along with several of the tournaments other seeds. Eight matches will be played in total and we covered four of those in our other set of WTA Abierto Tampico day 1 predictions. In this set we get stuck into the remaining four so let’s get started.
WTA Abierto Tampico Day 1 Predictions
Aldila Sutdjiadi vs Ashlyn Krueger
Head-to-head: First meeting
You’d be forgiven if you told me you had no idea who Aldila Sutjiadi is. The Pole has never ranked inside the top 350 in the women’s game and is 27 years old already. By contrast, her opponent Ashlyn Krueger is just 18 and already inside the top 200 in the women’s game. Krueger is another in the long list of young Americans threatening to break onto the WTA Tour at the moment. She has 300 ranking spots on her opponent here and is used to a far higher level of tennis than Sutjiadi can maintain. I can see only one winner in this matchup and it’s the American by a decent margin.
Prediction: Krueger in 3
Lin Zhu vs Julia Grabher
Head-to-head: First meeting
Julia Grabher has made good use of the ITF and Challenger tours this year to bag her first ever year end top 100 finish. Her opponent, Lin Zhu, has done the same. Both have three ITF titles to their names this year and on paper this looks a very close matchup. However, the Chinese star has a much better record on hard courts. In fact, Zhu has more hard court wins at ITF level or higher this year than Grabher has over her entire career. As such, Zhu is the clear favourite here and I expect the match to pan out that way.
Prediction: Zhu in 2
Laura Pigossi vs Varvara Gracheva
Head-to-head: 1 – 0 Pigossi
This may well be the most closely contested match of the day in Tampico. Laura Pigossi and Varvara Gracheva are separated by just nine ranking spots heading into this match. Both are young talents looking to forge their way on the WTA Tour. The Russian is undoubtedly the better hard court player of the two. She also brings good form to this tournament, having won three matches at the Rouen Challenger event last week. As such, Gracheva is the clear favourite here despite Pigossi winning their only previous encounter comfortably. Expect the Russian to move on.
Prediction: Gracheva in 3
Leylah Fernandez vs Elizabeth Mandlik
Head-to-head: First meeting
Leylah Fernandez has had a quite year by the lofty standards she set for herself in 2021. She defended her title in Monterrey, but achieved little outside of that in a season plagued by injuries. She remains one of the bright young talents in the women’s game nonetheless, and will be keen to show as much this week. Her first match is against another young talent in Elizabeth Mandlik. The American took home three ITF titles this year and showed flashes of the level required to be a mainstay on the WTA Tour in the latter months of the season. Fernandez is the clear favourite here and an upset would surprise me. However, I do expect Mandlik to push the Canadian to three sets and make life difficult for her.
Prediction: Fernandez in 3
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