Well, this is an absolutely beautiful setting for the game of tennis. Way up in the Alps on the Italian/French border, Courmayeur is a ski resort, just about to come into the ski season, that is in the same range as Mont Blanc. Information on the surface is hard to get, but given that the outdoor temperature is -1 and we are at over 1000m altitude I suspect that this will be a venue that helps the big servers. We look at the day’s matches in our WTA Courmayeur Day 1 Predictions–four matches in this article, and four in a separate article.
WTA Courmayeur Day 1 Predictions
Lucrezia Stefanini vs Mandy Minella
Head-to-head: First meeting
Stefanini is a wild card here and her best chance in this match is to embrace her home status. She is the higher-ranked player and has a better career record indoors than the Luxembourger, albeit generally at a lower level. However, looking at both players’ recent records I think that Minella has the better results and I prefer her chances here overall.
Prediction: Minella in 3
Aliona Bolsova vs Su-Wei Hsieh
Head-to-head: first meeting
Bolsova has qualified, so she has experience of playing matches at the venue. This could prove to be an advantage here at the altitude. Hsieh is the favourite being so much higher ranked than the Spaniard but the Taiwanese athlete has a really poor career record indoors. Couple this with Bolsova’s slightly better serve I am going to predict a slight upset here.
Prediction: Bolsova in 3
Lucia Bronzetti vs Kateryna Kozlova
Head-to-head: First meeting
I can see this being a very positive match-up. Both players are demonstrating a decent level of form, but I prefer the Ukrainian’s chances here. She is the player who has previously demonstrated a higher level of performance, she has a better strike rate playing indoors and has much more experience on the WTA Tour.
Prediction: Kozlova in 2
Alison Riske vs Ankita Raina
Head-to-head: first meeting
Riske hasn’t had the best season overall but she will like her chances of doing well here. The altitude should suit her game and this draw is a good one. Raina has already lost here in qualifying to Martina Di Giuseppe so it would be a surprise if she could now demonstrate a level of performance up to beating the sixth seed.
Prediction: Riske in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
