Day 2 of the WTA Washington, Mubadala DC Open, features #5 seed Anna Kalinskaya against former World No. 8 Daria Kasatkina. Alexandra Eala and Qinwen Zheng, two of the most popular players on tour, will also face off in a compelling clash. As always, we at LWOT will predict all the matches, but which players will advance to the next round?
WTA Washington Day 2 Predictions
Xinyu Wang vs Julieta Pareja
Head-to-Head: first meeting
Xinyu Wang is making her second DC Open appearance and will be looking to get her first win. Wang had a semifinal run in Bad Homburg recently, but otherwise she has struggled to win matches. However, her game is better suited to hard courts, and she will be up against 17-year-old qualifier Julieta Pareja, who has little experience at this level. I can see the Chinese winning this comfortably.
Prediction: Wang in 2
Alexandra Eala vs Qinwen Zheng
Head-to-Head: Eala 0-1 Zheng
Alexandra Eala will take the court for the first time since her super impressive grass-court season, where she defeated multiple top-10 players and reached a new career-high ranking of 28. Eala has already posted good results on hard courts this season and will be confident in her chances to do well in this North American hard-court swing. Qinwen Zheng is a very tough opponent who has already played matches on this surface earlier this month. Eala’s serve would be key in this match, and if she can defend it reasonably well, she will be in a good position to win.
Prediction: Eala in 3
Anna Kalinskaya vs Daria Kasatkina
Head-to-Head: Kalinskaya 1-3 Kasatkina
Daria Kasatkina is still searching for her old level, which helped her be a consistent top-20 player for a long time. She made it through qualifying at WTA Washington but lost sets to opponents ranked outside the top 400, which is not a positive sign. Anna Kalinskaya had solid runs at the French Open and Wimbledon, and her confidence and game are in a much better place compared to Kasatkina.
Prediction: Kalinskaya in 3
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
