The first WTA event of the year in Adelaide is always a treat. The draw is stacked and there are plenty of mouth-watering matches from day one. Today at LWOT, we look to predict some of these exciting match-ups including Top 20 players Marketa Vondrousova, Veronika Kudermetova and Caroline Garcia. We also look at the rest of the day’s matches in a separate article.
WTA Adelaide Day 2 Predictions
Veronika Kudermetova vs Ashlyn Krueger
Head-to-head: First meeting
It’s difficult to trust Veronika Kudermetova’s game from tournament to tournament. Peaks like her 500 title in Tokyo last year were asterisked by a middling record against players outside the Top 50.
A lot of Kudermetova’s success comes down to match-up. If she plays somebody that can’t neutralise her serve, she becomes fairly reliable from the back of the court. We’re not convinced Krueger will be able to put enough returns in play to really make the Russian doubt herself.
Prediction: Kudermetova in 2
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Magda Linette
Head-to-head: Linette 2-1 Alexandrova
Winning breeds winning and losing breeds losing. Nobody can take Magda Linette’s Australian Open semifinal run away from her but that was undoubtedly the highlight of a year that started to go off the rails, finishing her season on a streak of eight losses.
Ekaterina Alexandrova was one of the casualties in that run and will be looking for some revenge against an opponent lacking in confidence. The ball will be there for the taking and, for the most part, Alexandrova’s power game should deliver.
Prediction: Alexandrova in 3
Caroline Garcia vs Taylah Preston
Head-to-head: First meeting
Taylah Preston is on a great streak of wins at the ITF level. She’s only 18 years old, however, and she’s making her debut against a Top 50 player.
We could be surprised at how much she is able to hang in the rallies with Caroline Garcia. the United Cup will have given the Frenchwoman plenty of confidence, however, so she should take this one with relative ease.
Prediction: Garcia in 2
Marketa Vondrousova vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Head-to-head: Sasnovich 1-0 Vondrousova
Though the end of the year wasn’t great for Marketa Vondrousova, don’t be fooled. The Wimbledon champ is still capable of playing with cunning court-craft and comes into the vast majority of Top 100 match-ups as the favorite.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich has a polished power game that got the better of Vondrousova once but a lot has changed in the last four years for the Czech. She should be in good enough form to take care of the world #83.
Prediction: Vondrousova in 2
Main Photo Credit: Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
