WTA Hobart Final Prediction

Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs Lauren Davis

Head-to-head: Cocciaretto 1-0 Davis

Near the end of 2022, Cocciaretto won the biggest title of her career to date at a 125K event in Tampico, getting through an incredibly tough draw and defeating four top 100 players (Marie Bouzkova, Magda Linette, Lin Zhu, Camila Osorio). She’s not slowing down this year and has handled another strong set of opponents here. After saving two match points against Bernarda Pera in the quarterfinals, she took out the resurgent Sofia Kenin on Friday. This is her first WTA Tour final appearance.

Davis has the advantage of experience, having competed in three tour-level championship matches before. It all happened a long time ago and the 29-year-old has just managed to break a dry spell of six years. She’s no stranger to success in this part of the season, taking her only WTA Tour title at Auckland in 2017. Davis had to start her run from the qualifying draw and while perhaps slightly less impressive when it comes to the quality of opposition faced, she’s done remarkably well to claim six straight wins without dropping a set (only Ysaline Bonaventure managed to take her to a tie-breaker).

Back in Guadalajara 2021, Cocciaretto needed just 71 minutes to dispatch Davis 6-3 6-0. It’s pretty clear that it won’t be so comfortable this time around, especially with the potential nerves of competing in a WTA final. Both players possess strong two-handed backhands and the one who changes direction first in cross-court rallies (and lands it) could have a great advantage here. Perhaps a slight edge can go to the Italian, who should be more dangerous off her forehand wing, which usually isn’t a weapon for Davis.

Prediction: Cocciaretto in 3