A very exciting day of quarterfinal action awaits us at the 2023 WTA Linz Open. The main course is undeniably Maria Sakkari taking on Donna Vekic in a match that will make the winner incredibly fired up for the rest of the week and extremely hard to stop. Who do you think will make the final four?
WTA Linz Quarterfinal Predictions
Anastasia Potapova vs Anna-Lena Friedsam
Head-to-head: first meeting
Anna-Lena Friedsam has only lost one set in four matches in Linz so far. Her run includes a great upset win over Anhelina Kalinina. Now she’s going to face the very talented Anastasia Potapova, who’s always really close to a breakthrough result but can’t quite get over the line.
The Russian went to a deciding set in all her five previous matches, but had some fabulous moments in the second round here against Jule Niemeier. If she can repeat that, she might take three and probably win again.
Prediction: Potapova in 3
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Dalma Galfi vs Marketa Vondrousova
Head-to-head: first meeting
Dalma Galfi lost her first four matches of the season, but has already made up for it completely with four wins here. It’s already her best-ever run indoors as she only had three semifinals under the roof before, but all of them at the ITF 50K level or below. Can she keep it going?
It seems unlikely as Marketa Vondrousova looks very close to her pre-injury form at the moment and has been firing on all cylinders this week so far, dropping just eight games total to Rebeka Masarova and Viktoriya Tomova.
Prediction: Vondrousova in 2
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Clara Tauson vs Petra Martic
Head-to-head: first meeting
Clara Tauson’s progress was slowed down by injuries last year and while the Dane seemed to be getting back to her best at the end of 2022, she’s been incredibly up and down since beginning her campaign in Lyon last week.
The 20-year-old lost in the final qualifying round here to Rebeka Masarova, before playing much better in the two main draw matches. Petra Martic might just have the right mix of consistency and rhythm disruption to throw the youngster off her game and hand her a 2nd loss of the week though.
Prediction: Martic in 3
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Maria Sakkari vs Donna Vekic
Head-to-head: Vekic 5-2 Sakkari
Donna Vekic is now 9-1 for the year, only losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Maria Sakkari is at an only slightly less impressive 7-2, although she did suffer a couple of relatively surprising losses to Lin Zhu and Martina Trevisan.
This is a huge one and both women have performed admirably in Linz so far, only getting taken to one tie-break each. Vekic’s head-to-head lead doesn’t really signify any matchup issue, but it does confirm what we already know – at her best, she can (at least) match Sakkari in the ball-striking department.
Prediction: Vekic in 3
Main photo credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
