After an entertaining week of tennis, just two women are still in contention at the WTA Nottingham Open. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our preview and prediction for the final, but will it be Emma Navarro of the USA or Czechia’s Marie Bouzkova who lifts the title in the Midlands with Wimbledon looming large on the horizon?
WTA Nottingham Final Prediction
Emma Navarro vs Marie Bouzkova
Head-to-head: first meeting
Emma Navarro and Marie Bouzkova have taken different roads to Sunday’s WTA Nottingham Open final, but both arrive having earned their shot at the title. The third-seeded American has been resilient rather than dominant all week, surviving a tense tiebreak against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the quarterfinals, have already ground out wins to get past Yulila Starodubtseva and Anna Bondar, before a straight-sets win over Viktorija Golubic secured her spot in the last eight.
Bouzkova, meanwhile, has gone through her week quietly but efficiently, dropping zero sets en route to the first grass-court final of her career with wins over Tereza Valentova and Hannah Klugman. The Czech, already a title winner in Bogota earlier this year, then beat grass-court specialist Tatjana Maria – closing ou the second set of their quarterfinal without losing a game – before beating former-world #1 Karolina Pliskova to reach the final.
On paper, this is a clash of two players who rarely beat themselves, both preferring to redirect, probe and accumulate pressure rather than go for broke so we can expect long rallies to be the order of the day at WTA Nottingham.
Navarro’s ranking, serve and superior athleticism give her the edge, but Bouzkova’s clean hitting so far this week and her ability to control tempo and dictate from the baseline make her dangerous on a surface that rewards exactly that. Expect a tight, physical final decided by fine margins with the American to get over the line over the distance.
Prediction: Navarro in 3
Main photo credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images
