The quarterfinals are set in Lyon and it has been an exciting tournament with plenty of upsets. Just three seeds reached the final eight including only one of the top four. However, top-seed Caroline Garcia is still alive and the clear favorite to win her twelfth career title. There is a lot of youth on display as well and it will be a good chance for those players to showcase their skills deeper in a tournament. All matches on quarterfinal Friday are predicted below.
WTA Lyon Quarterfinal Predictions
Danka Kovinic vs Alycia Parks
Head-to-head: first meeting
Parks has played exciting tennis to reach this stage and has been exposed to more and more fans with her two wins here. Kovinic is an established veteran of the tour who will be hungry to win her first WTA title. While Konivic has won more convincingly here in Lyon, she has had an easier draw than Parks. Parks beat a talented player in Petra Martic in round 2, grinding through a second set tieberak before running away with a 6-2 final set. While Kovinic is talented and has more experience, she is much more comfortable on clay than hard. Parks has a significant advantage in her serve and her power will be her biggest advantage. She will be able to hit through Kovinic and take a major step toward her first WTA final.
Prediction: Parks in 3
Anastasia Potapova vs Maryna Zanevska
Head-to-head: first meeting
Potapova is an exciting young Russian who is building off a great 2022 where she broke into the top-50 for the first time. She has had some issues with inconsistency but made two finals last year including one title. Zanevska is older and more experienced but never had that major breakthrough. Similar to Potapova, she is trending upward and played some great tennis in 2022. Both players are similarly sized with similar skillsets but results favor Zanevska. Potapova has stood out on clay, while Zanevska plays well on all surfaces and favors hard. She has already scored big wins over Elise Mertens and Shuai Zhang this season and seems to be dangerous in all of her matches. Her crisper form certainly gives her the significant edge in this one.
Prediction: Zanevska in 2
Caroline Garcia vs Jasmine Paolini
Head-to-head: 3-0 Garcia
This is the only repeat matchup all quarterfinals. Garcia has dominated their past meetings and Paolini has never managed to win more than three games in a set against Garcia. Both of their matchups last year were on clay, but Garcia still has an edge from those as neither player has an obvious favorite surface. Garcia finished a great 2022 by winning the WTA Finals and reaching her career-best ranking. She has been hard for anyone to beat, and though she has had a few disappointing results to start the year, her losses have been to strong, in-form opponents. Garcia is simply the better player here and will win big.
Prediction: Garcia in 2
Linda Noskova vs Maria Camila Osorio Serrano
Head-to-head: First meeting
Noskova has been on a tear to start the season and is approaching the top-50 for the first time as an 18-year-old. She made an impressive run to the Adelaide final as a qualifying, taking out the #1 and #3 seeds along the way. Her form has continued in Lyon, winning all eight sets including qualifying. Her matches have been smooth sailing, spending just 4 hours and 25 minutes on court in four matches. Serrano has started the year well and scored a big win over Alize Cornet in the first round here. In her young career, most of her best results have come on clay. Noskova will use her bigger serve and bigger strokes to give Serrano more than she can handle. Noskova looks like a real force and she will continue her run in Lyon.
Prediction: Noskova in 2
Main Photo from Getty Images
