With fourteen singles matches on Tuesday’s schedule at the WTA Qatar Open, there should be plenty of entertaining tennis and, as always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, including Paula Badosa vs Clara Tauson, Magda Linette vs Barbora Krejcikova and Viktorija Golubic vs Iga Swiatek. But who will come out on top?
WTA Qatar Day 3 Predictions
Arantxa Rus vs Tereza Martincova
Head-to-head: Martincova 1-0 Rus
Arantxa Rus took advantage of her lucky loser position in the draw to beat Veronika Kudermetova in the opening round. The Dutch player, when she is serving well, has a very useful first delivery which could prove useful on the hard courts at the WTA Qatar Open, but it seems like she might find it tough to break Tereza Martincova’s serve. The Czech has made impressive progress over the last year or so and has an excellent 63% win-rate on tour on hard courts in the last year. With that level of form, expect her to come out on top here
Prediction: Martincova in 2
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Madison Brengle vs Victoria Azarenka
Head-to-head: first meeting
Madison Brengle is a players who is perennially underrated, but despite that, this does look like a challenge too far for the American. Victoria Azarenka came through a very dramatic match against Yulia Putintseva, saving a match point in the third set having already come back from 0-4 down. But although the Belarusian was not at her very best in that match, she does have one of the best hard-court records amongst active WTA players. Expect her to improve on that here at Brengle’s expense.
Prediction: Azarenka in 2
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Elise Mertens vs Petra Kvitova
Head-to-head: Kvitova 1-0 Mertens
Elise Mertens is the seeded player here but the bookmakers rank her as the underdog. The problem that Petra Kvitova has run into of late is that in four out of the last five matches in which she has been rated as the slight favorite she has lost. However, the Czech’s most recent displays, in the first round here and last week in Dubai, have seen a rise in level more akin with what we are used to seeing from the former Wimbledon champion. Mertens always provides a good sounding board for a player’s level and if Kvitova does emerge victorious here, which I think she will, then there is definite progress from the big-serving left-hander.
Prediction: Kvitova in 2
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Aryna Sabalenka vs Alize Cornet
Head-to-head: Sabalenka 1-1 Cornet
Alize Cornet had a career-best run in Australia but it is difficult to know how this will affect her. On one hand it could inspire her to greater heights, but on the other, she is an older player who has achieved something new. There can be a let-down afterwards and the Frenchwoman did lose in the opening round in St. Petersburg, albeit it wasn’t a bad performance, and she bounced back impressively to beat Liudmila Samsonova in her opener in Qatar.
Taking on Aryna Sabalenka is a slightly more difficult task though, even if the Belarussian is still struggling with her serve at the moment. Sabalenka’s hard court data is better than Cornet’s overall, though the data does include a period of time where Sabalenka was excellent on serve. This could be a tight tussle with Sabalenka’s difficulties, but the top seed should still have too much for Cornet in these conditions.
Prediction: Sabalenka in 3
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