With 11 matches on the schedule, there should be no shortage of entertaining tennis on day two at the WTA Monastir Open. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, including Lesia Tsurenko vs Chloe Paquet and Jasmine Paolini vs Alize Cornet. But who will reach the second round?
WTA Monastir Day 2 Predictions
Katarina Zavatska vs Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
Head-to-head: Zavatska 1-0 Bouzas Maneiro
Katarina Zavatska is now on a 7-match win streak, qualifying here and taking the title at an ITF 40K in Lisbon. She should be full of confidence and she’ll need it to get through Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. These two met last year in another Portuguese ITF in Loule where Zavatska took the win 6-3 6-3. It’s enough to grant her the status of the favorite here along with her recent winnings, but this one looks very close on paper.
Prediction: Zavatska in 3
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Claire Liu vs Emina Bektas
Head-to-head: Liu 2-0 Bektas
Emina Bektas is now nearing a top 100 debut at the age of 30, mostly thanks to excellent ITF results in the first half of the season. She also made her premier WTA Tour semifinal in Seoul last week though and showed that her brilliant patch is not close to running out yet. Claire Liu is going to be a bit of a test for her. The younger of the Americans was also looking solid in the same event, only losing to the eventual champion Jessica Pegula. Liu’s recent results might not be amazing, but they don’t do her justice. She’s clearly the more talented player.
Prediction: Liu in 2
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Marina Bassols Ribera vs Petra Marcinko
Head-to-head: first meeting
Petra Marcinko has had a bit of a stop-start season, but she did win an ITF 60K in her last event (beating Alina Korneeva in the semifinal clash of the two most recent Australian Open girls’ singles champions). Marina Bassols Ribera also picked up a title recently and is surely the more experience player with a game that’s fully fleshed-out. Marcinko seems like she’ll have more upside though and hard courts also accentuate her assets a tiny bit better.
Prediction: Marcinko in 3
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Martina Trevisan vs Katarzyna Kawa
Head-to-head: first meeting
Katarzyna Kawa found glimpses of that Jurmala 2019 level recently, producing a great streak of performances at the WTA 125 level (Bari quarterfinal, Ljubljana quarterfinal, Parma semifinal). It didn’t seem like the Pole would ever play like that again, but she has proven she still has it in her. Martina Trevisan is definitely a bit of a nightmare draw though. The Italian is performing pretty well even off-clay this year and Kawa doesn’t have all that much to hurt her with off the ground.
Prediction: Trevisan in 2
Main photo credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports