It’s time for day two action at the 2023 WTA Dubai Tennis Championships. It promises to be an entertaining day of tennis with 15 matches on the schedule, and as always, we here at LWOT are offering our predictions for every match, including Caroline Garcia vs Madison Keys, Lauren Davis vs Aryna Sabalenka and Viktoria Tomova vs Jessica Pegula. But who will advance?
WTA Dubai Day 3 Predictions
Daria Kasatkina vs Barbora Krejcikova
Head-to-head: Kasatkina 1-1 Krejcikova
Daria Kasatkina scored her best win of the season so far over Barbora Krejcikova, beating her 6-2 7-5 in Adelaide. However, out of these two it’s definitely the Russian who has looked a bit more off her game this season. With the conditions in Dubai probably not doing her too many favors either, Krejcikova should have a decent opportunity to exact revenge here. Her only win over Kasatkina came in Cincinnati, also a rather fast hard court.
Prediction: Krejcikova in 3
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Belinda Bencic vs Marta Kostyuk
Head-to-head: Bencic 2-0 Kostyuk
They’ve just met in Abu Dhabi where Belinda Bencic came out on top in straight sets. Marta Kostyuk had a 5-3 lead in the second though and she will surely not feel that the Swiss is unbeatable if she is on her game. Bencic has been flying quite high though with two WTA 500 titles this year already and just two losses – to world #1 Iga Swiatek and to world #2 Aryna Sabalenka. The 25-year-old pulled out of Doha quarterfinals citing fatigue but now properly rested up, she should be a force again.
Prediction: Bencic in 3
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Iga Swiatek vs Leylah Fernandez
Head-to-head: Swiatek 1-0 Fernandez
Swiatek dropped just five games during her run to the title in Doha and looks like a lock to be the main favorite for every slower hard court and clay event until the end of the year. This one is a bit faster though and she did lose here last year to Jelena Ostapenko. Leylah Fernandez is not the type of player who will attack her serve and punish her, but she should win more games than Swiatek’s Doha rivals did with her crafty counter-punching.
Prediction: Swiatek in 2
Main photo credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
