The second week of the post-Wimbledon clay court swing has been reached as the tournament in Hamburg begins for the WTA and ATP players. The first day for the WTA players is an interesting one and includes a former French Open finalist in action as Martina Trevisan will take to the court. There is one qualifying match and three first-round matches predicted below. Who do you think will advance?
WTA Hamburg Day 1 Predictions
Kaja Juvan vs Despina Papamichail
Head-to-head: Papamichail 1-0 Juvan
This is the one qualifying match. Juvan had a positive tournament last week at the Hungarian Open and her run was only ended by Maria Timofeeva in a tight match, and Timofeeva went on to go all the way to the final. Papamichail is a more than capable player. But I find it impossible to not back Juvan after how impressive I found her last week. Papamichail winning their only previous encounter is a source of optimism for her, but I am still going with Juvan to progress.
Prediction: Juvan in 2
Embed from Getty Images
Maria Carle vs Tamara Korpatsch
Head-to-head: Carle 1-1 Korpatsch
This is a first-round contest between two women both in need of a good run. Each player is ranked outside the Top 100 despite the considerable talent available to both. This is particularly the case for Korpatsch who is capable of so much more. The German will be hoping to find some inspiration in front of her home fans. Clay is the favoured surface for both players, and Carle won two titles on the ITF circuit in May on the dirt. This is likely to be a tight match but I will just give Korpatsch the edge at a home tournament.
Prediction: Korpatsch in 3
[cta id=4013 type=cta]
Embed from Getty Images
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Panna Udvardy
Head-to-head: Udvardy 1-0 Schmiedlova
Both these women are very close in the rankings. Schmiedlova is #83 in the world while Udvardy is #87. Schmiedlova has the more distinguished career by a comfortable margin with two WTA clay court titles, but she is has been far from that level for a considerable period of time and has not reached a clay court WTA final since 2018. Schmiedlova has never reached a WTA final but will still have some confidence after reaching a Challenger final last month. I also think her playing style will disrupt Schmiedlova to give her the win.
Prediction: Udvardy in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Martina Trevisan vs Elvina Kalieva
Head-to-head: first meeting
Trevisan has had a mostly difficult time in the last year or so. The Italian had that memorable run all the way to the semifinals of the French Open last year but has not found any kind of consistent form since then. She did show some positive signs in Palermo last week against the #1 seed Daria Kasatkina even though things did go slightly wrong in the final set. I think she will have enough in this one. Kalieva is a very talented player but playing against an experienced clay court competitor in the first round is a tough challenge for someone ranked well outside the Top 100.
Prediction: Trevisan in 2
