With 17 matches on the slate on day two at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships, there should be plenty of entertaining tennis for the fans to enjoy at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, including Irina-Camelia Begu vs Garbine Muguruza, Fiona Ferro vs Elise Mertens and Shelby Rogers vs Kaia Kanepi. But who will reach the second round?
WTA Dubai Tennis Championships Day Two Predictions
Laura Siegemund vs Anastasia Potapova
Head-to-head: first meeting
Despite some fairly one-sided losses, Laura Siegemund has made a broadly impressive start to the season. She has lost in the first round on three occasions, but made the last 16 at the WTA Yarra Valley Classic and last week came through the qualifying to reach the second round at the WTA Qatar Open. However, she may well have her work cut out for her up against the Russian young gun Anastasia Potapova, who impressed in reaching the third round at the Australian Open.
She lost there in bitterly disappointing circumstances to Serena Williams and also fell in the first round at the WTA Phillip Island Trophy, but she played some good tennis last week in Doha and was perhaps unlucky to draw Jessica Pegula in the second round of qualifying. If she can maintain control of her second serve, particularly her ball toss, her aggressive game should suit the quick conditions in Dubai better than Siegemund’s. Expect the Russian to edge it.
Prediction: Potapova in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Angelique Kerber vs Caroline Garcia
Head-to-head: Kerber 6-2 Garcia
It is a mark of how badly both Caroline Garcia and Angelique Kerber have lost their way in recent times that this is a first-round matchup at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships. Kerber, in particular, looks like a shadow of the player she once was, with the German having managed just three wins so far this season. Of those three wins, only her 6-4 6-4 win over Ons Jabeur at the WTA Grampians Trophy in Melbourne can be classed as anything like creditable.
Garcia has scarcely been better. She has won only one of her last four matches and was thrashed 1-6 2-6 by Viktorija Golubic in the second round in Lyon last week. That hardly inspires confidence in her chances. But, although she has struggled in this rivalry, the quick court surface at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships should favour her attacking all-court game more than it does Kerber’s counter-punching approach. Expect that to be the difference between the two.
Prediction: Garcia in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Patricia Maria Tig vs Jelena Ostapenko
Head-to-head: Ostapenko 1-0 Tig
It is, at times, difficult to understand how Jelena Ostapenko was able to win the French Open, and then reach the last four at the All England Club a year later, before fading so significantly as a force on the WTA Tour. At 23, she still has time to reassert herself and it should not be entirely overlooked that she played back-to-back WTA-level finals in the closing weeks of the 2019 season. But there is still no disguising the fact that it is some time since she was a realistic contender for a big title.
Equally, however, this looks like a winnable match for the Latvian. She has not performed particularly consistently so far in 2021, but she has been far from abject, reaching the third round at the WTA Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne and the second round in Qatar last week, where she thrashed fifth seed Kiki Bertens in her opener. Patricia Maria Tig can be a dangerous foe, but she is far more comfortable on the clay and lacks the sort of weaponry to go toe-to-toe with Ostapenko.
Prediction: Ostapenko in 2
Embed from Getty Images
Amanda Anisimova vs Ana Konjuh
Head-to-head: first meeting
Whilst this may be the first meeting between Amanda Anisimova and Ana Konjuh, it most likely will not be the last. But there is no escaping the reality that it is the Croatian who is in the better shape coming into it. Her ranking may have slipped from 20th in the world to outside the top 400, but she has played a lot more tennis of late than Anisimova. That includes two wins in the qualifying in Dubai, although the first did come via retirement.
Anisimova, meanwhile, has not played since mid-February, when she withdrew ahead of her second-round clash with Claire Lieu at an ITF event in Orlando. Understandably, that raises real questions as to whether or not she will be ready for the level of competition at a WTA 1000 event. The answer, unfortunately, seems more likely to be no than yes, particularly against a player with Konjuh’s pedigree. The Croatian should take this one.
Prediction: Konjuh in 3
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
