Semifinals day at the WTA Lyon Open should see plenty of entertaining action for the fans in southern France, with the reigning Australian Open champion amongst those set to be in action. But who will book their place in Sunday’s final?
Lyon Open Semifinal Predictions
Daria Kasatkina vs Anna-Lena Friedsam
Head-to-head: Kasatkina 2-0 Friedsam
Daria Kasatkina has had to work hard for her place in the semifinals, having picked up wins over Pauline Parmentier, Irina Bara and Camila Giorgi. Although both Parmentier and Giorgi took her the distance, Kasatkina may well have benefitted from the time spent on court, with wins having been hard to come by for the former-world #10 in recent months. And she will surely approach this semifinal with confidence having beaten Anna-Lena Friedsam in both of their previous meetings.
That said, Friedsam has looked sharp so far at the Lyon Open. She opened her campaign with a 6-2 6-2 win over Russia’s Anastasiya Komardina, before upsetting the second seed Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 6-3. She then secured her place in the semifinals by rallying past Viktoria Kuzmova, 3-6 7-6 6-2. Indeed, Friedsam has been sufficiently impressive this week to suggest that she will take some stopping. With Kasatkina having not quite hit her straps, expect it to be the German who reaches the final.
Prediction: Friedsam in 3
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Sofia Kenin vs Alison Van Uytvanck
Head-to-head: Van Uytvanck 2-1 Kenin
After winning the Australian Open in January, Sofia Kenin initially appeared to be struggling to adapt to life as a Grand Slam champion, having lost in the first round in both Dubai and Doha. But she scored a confidence building win over the unorthodox Vitalia Diatchenko in the first round and backed that up with battling three-set victories over Jaqueline Cristian and the qualifier Oceane Dodin to reach her first semifinal since the Australian Open.
Alison Van Uytvanck, meanwhile, began her Lyon Open campaign with a comprehensive 6-1 6-3 win over Katarzyna Kawa. She then came back from a set down to beat Viktoriya Tomova, before dismissing the challenge of third seed Caroline Garcia for the loss of only four games. That will surely have given her real confidence heading into the semifinals, particularly as she has beaten Kenin in two of their three previous meetings. But Kenin is the world #5 for a reason and has been finding a way to win this week even when not at her best. Expect her do so once again.
Prediction: Kenin in 3
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