The remaining second-round matches will be played on Thursday at the Budapest Grand Prix. Top seed and title favourite, Diana Shnaider, will be in action with three other exciting matches to look forward to. As always, we here at LWOT will offer our predictions for every match on the slate for day 4. But who will advance to the quarterfinals?
WTA Budapest Day 4 Predictions
Anna Bondar vs Ella Seidel
Head-to-Head: First meeting
Anna Bondar played brilliantly in her first-round match to beat Olga Danilovic. That was Bondar’s first tour-level win of the year and to do that in front of her home crowd must have felt special. Bondar is just inside the top 100 and would want to get more wins under her belt to increase her ranking. Ella Seidel won her first-round match via walkover as her opponent, Moyuka Uchijima was not feeling well and had no energy to hit the ball and eventually retired at the beginning of the second set. This is a big win for Seidel as she gets her first tour-level win of her career. Bondar should win this with her superior level and the crowd behind her.
Prediction: Bondar in 3
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Bernarda Pera vs Eva Lys
Head-to-Head: First meeting
Bernarda Pera had a good grass season as she reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time. However. outside of that, her season has been pretty subpar. Clay is her favorite and most successful surface and she will look to get some more wins at the Budapest Grand Prix. Eva Lys put in a mature and composed performance after going down a break in the first set. Lys won 11 games in a row and bagelled Nadia Podoroska in the second set. She served well and dominated the match with clean hitting. This should be a closely contested match but Lys has the edge.
Prediction: Lys in 3
Xiyu Wang vs Rebecca Sramkova
Head-to-Head: First meeting
Xiyu Wang is having a decent season so far with consistent wins under her belt, but she hasn’t converted those wins into runs since reaching the final in Austin. She has a good lefty serve on her, which troubles the opponents on clay. Rebecca Sramkova was gritty in her first-round match. With her run in Rome this year, she demonstrated her ability to play well on the dirt. She can trouble the #3 seed but I can’t see her winning this.
Prediction: Wang in 3
Diana Shnaider vs Ekaterina Makarova
Head-to-Head: First meeting
Diana Shnaider is the top see this week at the Budapest Grand Prix but she had to struggle for her win in the first round against Fanny Stollar, who was hitting big on her forehand side. Shnaider has played a lot of tennis this year and won a lot of matches to go with it. She is getting good practice for the Olympics this week but has to raise her level if she wants to lift the trophy. Ekaterina Makarova played her first main draw match of the year and won convincingly. She has not been in great form at the ITF level but served brilliantly to get the win. Shnaider will be too big a task for Makarova, though.
Prediction: Shnaider in 2
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Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
