Day two of the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy is packed full of must-see tennis. Eleven matches will be played out on Tuesday, with the likes of Petra Kvitova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova taking to the court. When the dust settles we should have a much better idea of who the serious contenders are. With that in mind, let’s get into our WTA St Petersburg Ladies Trophy day 2 predictions.
WTA St Petersburg Ladies Trophy Day 2 Predictions
Magda Linette vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Head-to-head: 3 – 1 Sasnovich
Count me among those who are happy to see Aliaksandra playing good tennis again. The Belarusian is a treat to watch when on song and a great addition to the women’s game. However, she has been wildly inconsistent over the past two years. She appears to have righted ship in the last six months though and will be determined to make 2022 a good year for her. Her opponent – Magda Linette – is a decent player in her own right. The Pole has a good hard court record over the last two years. As such, she is likely to go quietly here. Sasnovich has the higher level of the two, but will need to reach it consistently to win here. I think she will, but only just.
prediction: Sasnovich in 3
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Irina-Camelia Begu vs Shuai Zhang
Head-to-head: 2 – 0 Begu
Shuai Zhang is a solid and dependable player on the women’s tour. However, at 33 and with no WTA titles to her name, I think it’s fair to say she is no more than that. Irina-Camelia Begu on the other hand has touches of brilliance every now and then. Ironically the Chinese star has the higher career-best ranking of the two. Nevertheless, it is Begu who has four WTA titles to her name. She is also in good form coming into this match and leads the head-to-head 2-0. Granted both matches were on clay, but there is something to be said for not dropping a set in either. I think Begu will have to much for Zhang here and should win relatively comfortably.
Prediction: Begu in 2
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Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Jaqueline Cristian
Head-to-head: First meeting
I like Jaqueline Cristian for the upset here. Pavlyuchenkova has played this tournament nine times and only made the second round or better on three occasions. She obviously doesn’t enjoy the conditions here and I think and aggressive baseline player like Cristian will give her problems. The Romanian enjoyed a career year last year and has carried that form into 2022. She is now comfortably inside the top 100 in the women’s game and looks set to continue climbing the rankings in the coming months. She should have too much power for Pavlyuchenkova to handle here and looks a good bet to send the Russian home early once again.
Prediction: Cristian in 2
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