Sloane Stephens won the WTA 125K event at Saint-Malo last week. The next challenge for the American will be to carry that momentum over to the Italian Open in Rome. Can she get her campaign off to a good start against Nadia Podoroska? We share our thoughts on that match and all the rest of Tuesday’s action. We split the day’s 20 matches between five articles–that means four articles after this one. The other articles feature Elina Svitolina vs Lesia Tsurenko, Paula Badosa vs Anna-Lena Friedsam, Lauren Davis vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto, and Sara Errani vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Who do you think will advance?
WTA Rome Day 2 Predictions
Tatjana Maria vs Anna Bondar
Head-to-head: Maria 1-0
Tatjana Maria has only played Rome twice in her career and never progressed past the qualifying. The conditions are on the slow side of clay here and that’s not great for her slice-and-dice style. It’s not like she can’t beat Anna Bondar, but the Hungarian probably deserves the slight nod here. She played through the qualifying and should have enough momentum to punish Maria if her slice is sitting up a bit too much.
Prediction: Bondar in 3
Arantxa Rus vs Camila Giorgi
Head-to-head: 2-2
This rivalry dates back to 2009, but they’ve never played each other on clay yet. Camila Giorgi won their last two meetings very comfortably, although one could expect the surface in Rome to be a bit on equalizer. Despite this being her home WTA 1000 event, the Italian has never progressed past the second round here. If Arantxa Rus can control the rallies with her lefty topspin, the errors could simply start flowing from the other side of the net.
Prediction: Rus in 3
Camilla Rosatello vs Claire Liu
Head-to-head: Liu 1-0
Interestingly, these two played each other in an ITF event when Claire Liu had barely turned 17. The American won that tournament and her career has been so much more successful than Camilla Rosatello’s ever since. Despite a rough start to the clay season this year (zero wins in three appearances), this looks like the perfect opportunity for her to grab one on the board.
Prediction: Liu in 2
Sloane Stephens vs Nadia Podoroska
Head-to-head: First meeting
Sloane Stephens is always an extremely tough player to predict. Despite an incredible ceiling, the 2017 US Open winner continues to disappoint in recent years. However, the American has just triumphed in a WTA 125K event in Saint-Malo, playing some spectacular tennis. Does that mean she’ll perform here? History says not necessarily, but all the confidence gained must count for something, doesn’t it?
Prediction: Stephens in 3
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
