Elina Svitolina – the top seed in Chicago – returns to the court on Wednesday for the first time since the US Open. The Ukrainian won the first Chicago tournament the week before the US Open started and will be hoping for similar success here. But there are plenty of players standing between her and success at the WTA Chicago Classic. As ever, here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Shelby Rogers vs Bianca Andreescu and Victoria Azarenka vs Hailey Baptiste. But who will come out on top?
WTA Chicago Day 3 predictions
Anett Kontaveit vs Mai Hontama
Head-to-head: first meeting
Reaching the round of 32 in Chicago is one of the biggest results of Mai Hontama’s career. Unfortunately, this is surely where her dream run comes to an end. Anett Kontaveit brings a title in Ostrava and a six match win streak into this match and looks a sure thing to bag lucky number seven on Wednesday. The Estonian is in superb form and is a level above Hontama here. Don’t expect this to be a particularly close match. Kontaveit has enough quality and fire power to wrap this up quickly.
Prediction: Kontaveit in 2
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Tereza Martincova vs Tamara Zidansek
Head-to-head: Martincova 1-1 Zidansek
This should be one of the closer matches in the round of 32. Both Tamara Zidansek and Tereza Martincova are having career years in 2021. Zidansek is undoubtedly the better player as things stand. However, Martincova hasn’t hit her ceiling yet and is a real handful on hard courts. Zidansek is far more comfortable on clay where she has time to set up her lethal forehand and dictate play from that wing. She won’t have that kind of time against Martincova and will have to deal with aggressive baseline play throughout the match. This match appears to be on a knife edge, but Martincova is more at home on this surface and that could prove to be the difference.
Prediction: Martincova in 3
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Belinda Bencic vs Maddison Ingles
Head-to-head: first meeting
This should be relatively straightforward for Belinda Bencic barring any major meltdown by the Swiss. Maddison Ingles is a solid but unspectacular player who doesn’t have the game to live with Bencic playing anywhere near her best tennis. If Bencic sprays errors as she can do on occasion then this may go to a third set. However, it’s hard to see Bencic being off for long enough that an upset occurs here. The Olympic gold medallist is in a purple patch and that looks set to continue here.
Prediction: Bencic in 2
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Elina Svitolina vs Amanda Anisimova
Head-to-head: Svitolina 2-1 Anisimova
This is a tough first match for top seed Svitolina. Amanda Anisimova is one of the more promising young talents on the tour and is capable of incredible tennis at her best. A combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and personal issues mean we haven’t seen that level from the young American recently. Nonetheless, she showed at times in the first round that she is on the way back and can certainly cause Svitolina problems. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian is in red hot form coming into this tournament and it will likely take Anisimova’s best to pull a win out of the bag here. With that in mind, it’s hard to see her finding that level consistently enough here. Svitolina should have just about enough in this one.
Prediction: Svitolina in 3
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