The second day of action at the WTA Italian Open in Rome is about to begin as the players prepare for the swift transition from the hard courts to clay. This is a much shorter clay swing for the players this year as this is the only premier event being played going into the French Open. Here at LWOT, we will be giving our thoughts on Day 2 matches at the Italian Open. We also have predictions for all eight other matches on Tuesday.
WTA Rome Day 2 predictions
Misaki Doi vs Marketa Vondrousova
Head-to-head: First Meeting
Qualifier Misaki Doi will play for a spot in the second round in Rome against 12th seed, Marketa Vondrousova. Doi managed to get through her first qualifying round match against the home favourite, Trevisan in a three hour battle. However, Doi didn’t have to play her other qualifying match as she got a bye because her opponent, Pera, was moved into the main draw. The Japanese player recently played in Istanbul and reached round two before losing to eventual champion, Tig. She isn’t on the best form but will be hoping to pull off a surprise on Tuesday.
Markets Vondrousova has struggled to find her best tennis ever since her incredible run to the final at Roland Garros. The Czech has been plagued with injuries but is happy to be on the court once again. She hasn’t restarted the season as she would’ve hoped, winning just one match and losing three. Despite this most of those loses have been close and she’s shown glimpses of her great form on both the clay and hard courts. Vondrousova will be the favourite going into the match and should be able to beat an out of sorts Doi.
Prediction: Vondrousova in 2
Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs Irina-Camelia Begu
First Meeting
Elisabetta Cocciaretto will be very pleased with her form on the comeback of the WTA tour. She has only played on clay since the return and has posted some decent results. Her first tournament back was in Palmero and she made the quarterfinals, losing to Anett Kontaveit. The 19-year-old beat two players ranked considerably higher than her, Polona Hercog and Donna Vekic, to reach that stage of the competition. Alongside a final in the Prague challenger, she has reached a career-high of #128 in the world rankings. Her form could help the wild card entry, but she will face a tough task against an experienced clay player.
Irina-Camelia Begu wouldn’t have been too pleased with the stop in the tour as she had just won the Indian Wells challenger without dropping a set! Since then Begu posted a semifinal in Prague before losing to Grand Slam champion Simona Halep. In order to make it to the main draw, she had to win two qualifying matches and did so dropping just six games in both matches. She has been very impressive on this surface her whole career and is expected to show even more of that this week at the Italian Open.
Prediction: Begu in 2
Kaja Juvan vs Polona Hercog
Head-to-head: First Meeting
Kaja Juvan breezed through the qualifying tournament in Rome and enters the main draw for the first time at the Italian Open. She dropped just ten games in both of her matches, playing some pretty solid tennis. Juvan has wasted any time on the restart of the tour as this is already her fifth tournament since August. Four of these tournaments were on clay. This will be a benefit for the teenager as she already has played two matches at this venue. Other than a good result in Palmero, Juvan has struggled to find her best tennis but the extra match play should help a lot.
Polona Hercog hasn’t had to make the transition from hard court to clay as she opted out of playing the US Open. Since the resumption of the tour, she has played three clay-court tournaments but only progressed last round one in Istanbul. She didn’t however, put up an excellent fight in Prague against Simona Halep, losing in a third-set tiebreak. Her serve was extremely vulnerable in the quarterfinals of Istanbul against Badosa, which could be an issue against the heavy-hitting teenager.
Prediction: Juvan in 3
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