We lost the #1 seed in the previous round amongst a day of excellent tennis in at the WTA Linz Open in Austria. Will there be any more shocks in the quarterfinal round? We preview all four of the quarterfinal matches in this article.
WTA Linz Quarterfinal Predictions
Xinyu Wang vs Alison Riske
Head-to-head: first meeting
Wang made my prediction of an upset against Emma Raducanu look particularly prescient in the previous round. Watching that match the Chinese looked strong and ambitious with her game, she is a very exciting prospect. However, she also was taped up a lot and had to dig very deep to get over the line in a long match. Riske also did as predicted and extended her winning record over Alize Cornet to 6-0. She didn’t have to extend herself too much for the win and so will be the fresher player. However, I think Wang is the player in better overall form and certainly someone who is rising through the game. I am going to stick with the Chinese to progress into the semifinals here.
Prediction: Wang in 2
Jaqueline Cristian vs Veronika Kudermetova
Head-to-head: Cristian 1-1 Kudermetova
Cristian was the beneficiary of a retirement against Rebecca Peterson but was already well ahead in the first set when that happened. Kudermetova was behind for most of her match against Anhelina Kalinina but found the extra gears predicted to come through that test. Cristian is proving herself to be a very promising player. She will have to step up again for this test but I think that the Kalinina match will have blown the cobwebs off for Kudermetova and she is in the position now to play her game and at this time I think she is the better player of the two.
Prediction: Kudermetova in 3
Danielle Collins vs Alison Van Uytvanck
Head-to-head: First meeting
Both of these players are flying at the moment after dominant wins in the previous round. For the Belgian that is now two victories for the loss of only four games. However, Van Uytvanck will need to raise her level again for the meeting against Collins. The American swept aside Van Uytvanck’s former partner Greet Minnen in the previous round and given her BJK Cup form as well it is hard to back against the tenacious Floridian.
Prediction: Collins in 2
Jasmine Paolini vs Simona Halep
Head-to-head: Halep 1-0 Paolini
Halep creeps ever closer to top form as she makes her way through these draws. The Romanian was comfortable in the end against Aliaksandra Sasnovich barring a mad ten minutes in the opening set where she eleven out of twelve points. Paolini herself had a bizarre spell in her match against Saisai Zheng. The Italian was cruising at 6-1 2-2 and then lost the next seven games. Thankfully, she was able to reassert herself but she will not have a second chance against Halep. I expect the former world #1 to win this one as she has a very similar game to Paolini but better in every department.
Prediction: Halep in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
