With only one week until Wimbledon, this WTA event in Bad Homburg is one of the last opportunities for players to gain some invaluable match time on grass. Many eyes will be on Iga Swiatek in particular who famously crashed out of Wimbledon‘s third round last year to end her streak of 37 wins in a row. We’ve predicted her match against Tatjana Maria and more on the second day of action in Germany. We’ve also published articles predicting the outcomes of the other seven matches taking place on the same day.
WTA Bad Homburg Day 2 Predictions
Emma Navarro vs Donna Vekic
Head-to-head: Vekic 1-0 Navarro
Donna Vekic on grass is a sight to behold. Once she got going in Berlin last week, it took a mammoth performance from Petra Kvitova to put a stop to her. Vekic will be one to watch at Wimbledon, the confidence in her power and serve making her a difficult prospect to stomach for any player in the world.
Conversely, Emma Navarro is playing her first match ever on grass and is renown on the tour for her ability to grind her opponents down on the red dirt. Vekic’s run to the final wasn’t particularly punishing so we’ll trust she’ll have enough in the tank for a routine victory.
Prediction: Vekic in 2
Lucia Bronzetti vs Julia Grabher
Head-to-head: Bronzetti 2-1 Grabher
Both Lucia Bronzetti and Julia Grabher are clay-courters first and foremost. This is a repeat of their final in Rabat where Bronzetti was able to nab the victory. Perhaps the Italian is a marginally better player on clay but, on paper, she’s arguably a much better grass-courter. She has a little more bite to her shots and should be able to translate her game to this surface more easily than Grabher.
Prediction: Bronzetti in 2
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Iga Swiatek vs Tatjana Maria
Head-to-head: First meeting
How will Iga Swiatek fare against Tatjana Maria’s devilish slice on her least favourite surface? We don’t think it’ll be pretty. Despite winning the French Open, Swiatek’s serve still isn’t winning her free points so there will be plenty of long rallies. Additionally, if the world #1 is feeling nervous, it’ll be very difficult to generate the consistent racket head speed required to get the ball up and down after a slice.
Swiatek generally only loses to power players, however. Even if Maria creates some awkward situations, Swiatek will have the chance to settle into the match rather than having the racket blown out of her hands which can only really benefit her over the course of the match. Maria will make Swiatek suffer but ultimately won’t have the power to finish the job.
Prediction: Swiatek in 3
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
