After a day full of upsets, could we see a semblance of normalcy at the WTA Hamburg European Open on Wednesday? With the top two seeds at the tournament going out on the same afternoon, the rest of the field will fancy their chances of making it to the deep end of the draw including four Germans. Who do you think will advance?
WTA Hamburg Day 4 Predictions
Tamara Korpatsch vs Daria Saville
Head-to-head: first meeting
Daria Saville produced quite the statement in the opening round in Hamburg. The injury-prone Aussie recorded an emphatic 6-0 7-6 win over Palermo finalist Jasmine Paolini, breaking serve six times in the match. Tamara Korpatsch played her opening match on Sunday under the roof and earned just her third main draw win of the season. Saville clearly beat a fatigued opponent in her opener and lest we forget she is still in the infancy stages of her comeback. Korpatsch knows she won’t get many opportunities to impress in her home city. This is a winnable match for the German.
Prediction: Korpatsch in 3
Arantxa Rus vs Nadia Podoroska
Head-to-head: Rus 1-1 Podoroska
Rus and Podoroska have split their two head-to-head matches at the ITF level. The Dutchwoman defeated the newly-crowned Budapest champion Maria Timofeeva in three sets, finishing that match very strongly to get her Hamburg campaign up and running. Podoroska was similarly dominant as she toppled Viktoriya Tomova 6-1 7-5. Rus looks like she has a second wind in her career. At 32, she has surpassed her previous career-high ranking of #61 from 2012. She has won 11 of her last 12 matches and the formbook heavily favors her in a very close matchup.
Prediction: Rus in 3
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Storm Hunter vs Noma Noha Akugue
Head-to-head: first meeting
This should be a very interesting battle between two lefties who are sitting not far from each in the rankings. By virtue of winning her opening match, wild card Noha Akugue is guaranteed a new career-high ranking at the end of the tournament and a place inside the top 200. World #154 Storm Hunter authored the biggest upset of the tournament, beating top seed Donna Vekic 3-6 6-3 6-3.
Akugue has bags of potential. Her game is packaged with a very decent serve and an aggressive approach behind her return. That couldn’t have been more evident than in her first match here where Laura Pigossi landed 80% of her first serves, but the German wild card won close to half of her return points. But Australia’s Hunter looks so polished from the baseline that it’s tough to comprehend an upset.
Prediction: Hunter in 2
Panna Udvardy vs Eva Lys
Head-to-head: first meeting
Eva Lys accounted for the second big upset on Tuesday, knocking out the second seed Mayar Sherif in comprehensive fashion. She only dropped two games in that match, but it has to be said the Egyptian was out of sorts for the entire contest. It was probably Sherif’s flattest performance on clay that I have seen. But Lys won’t care and now this bottom half of the draw is wide open. Can Lys make her first WTA quarterfinal? Udvardy is no slouch on this surface and is also coming off an odds-defying win of her own. Playing at home could be the trump card that Lys needs, but ultimately this is a bit of a toss-up.
Prediction: Lys in 3
Jule Niemeier vs Yulia Putintseva
Head-to-head: Niemeier 1-0 Putintseva
Jule Niemeier survived a seemingly straightforward opener on paper against fellow German Ella Seidel. In the first set, she trailed 4-0 and then 5-2, but still won the set in a tiebreak. Although she was pegged back, Niemeier’s serve improved considerably in the decider to keep the wild card at bay.
Putintseva’s match was devoid of any drama, beating French qualifier Elsa Jacquemot in straight sets. Putintseva is aware of Niemeier’s strengths having experienced the bruta; power of the German’s ground strokes at last year’s US Open. While clay significantly renders Niemeier’s forehand a little less effective, it should still do a job against the defensive Kazakh.
Prediction: Niemeier in 2
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
