All of the second round matches are scheduled for a big Day 3 at the WTA Linz Open. Unfortunately the home crowd couldn’t see a home victory on Day 2, but the big guns come out to play on Day 3. Who will reach the next round though? We preview four of the matches here and the other four in a separate article.
WTA Linz Day 3 Predictions
Alize Cornet vs Alison Riske
Head-to-head: Riske 5-0 Cornet
Cornet made really hard work of beating Julia Grabher in the opening round. The Austrian had never won a match in this tournament in six attempts but the Frenchwoman gave her multiple chances to get on the board. That level of performance will not cut it against Riske, who despite being in poor form herself, seems to have the edge on Cornet whenever they meet. I predict that the streak will continue in this match as well, with Riske’s game being too strong for Cornet.
Prediction: Riske in 2
Jaqueline Cristian vs Rebecca Peterson
Head-to-head: First meeting
Cristian showed real spirit in producing a win from a losing position against Kamilla Rakhimova. The Romanian lucky loser will have to produce something even better though to overcome an in-form Peterson. The Swede has won nine out of her last ten matches now and is winning the key points in matches with regularity. Cristian has a chance though and taking the year as a whole she actually has a better win percentage than Peterson but I favour the Swedish athlete to come out on top in a three set tussle.
Prediction: Peterson in 3
Jasmine Paolini vs Saisai Zheng
Head-to-head: Paolini 1-0 Zheng
The Italian is becoming a very reliable player on the circuit. She is beating the players that she should beat but also often not being able to step up to the higher levels when required. Thankfully for her I don’t think she will need to find that high a level to defeat Zheng at the moment. The Chinese player isn’t having a great year and I don’t expect her to make a deep run here either. Take Paolini to win this one a bit more comfortably than their 2019 meeting which went to 7-5 in the third.
Prediction: Paolini in 2
Emma Raducanu vs Xinyu Wang
Head-to-head: First meeting
The young Brit has been brought up in the media once more this week. England rugby head coach Eddie Jones suggested that Raducanu’s off-court activities had distracted her from performance. Whether or not there is any substance to this suggestion it is true that Raducanu is yet to repeat her level of that, frankly ridiculous, US Open win. Xinyu Wang is an up-and-coming name herself who has been going about her business more quietly but also impressively. The Chinese athlete has a bigger serve than I have seen from any previous Chinese player but still has excellent technique off the ground. She also showed some character to come back from a set down against Kateryna Kozlova so she is a lively outsider here. If Raducanu isn’t on her game again then she could receive a shock here and I am going to predict that that is what is going to happen here.
Prediction: Wang in 2
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