With eight intriguing first-round matches on the schedule on day one at the WTA Eastbourne International, there should be plenty of entertaining tennis for the fans at Devonshire Park. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our previews and predictions for every match on the slate, including Katie Boulter vs Tereza Martincova, but who will secure their spot in the second round?
WTA Eastbourne Day 1 Predictions
Kaia Kanepi vs Nuria Parrizas Diaz
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kaia Kanepi is always a dangerous opponent. The veteran proved as much at the French Open, reaching the third round after scoring wins over Garbine Muguruza and Beatriz Haddad Maia. But she is not as comfortable on grass as she is on hard and clay courts. Still, she has reached two Wimbledon quarterfinals and has more pedigree on the surface than Nuria Parrizas Dias. The Spaniard has established herself as a solid tour-level clay-courter, but this will be her first grass-court match of the season and she may well be outclassed up against a player of Kanepi’s experience.
Prediction: Kanepi in 2
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Viktorija Golubic vs Marta Kostyuk
Head-to-head: Kostyuk 1-0 Golubic
Marta Kostyuk has been handed a very tough opening assignment at the WTA Eastbourne International. The 19-year-old does not have a particularly impressive grass-court record, though she did reach the second round at Wimbledon last season, and has not yet played on the surface this year. Viktorija Golubic, in contrast, has a wealth of experience behind her and reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club last year. That did come in the middle of a banner year for the Swiss and her results this season don’t exactly suggest that she will be making a return to the last eight in SW19 in a fortnight. But she should have the beating of Kostyuk in Eastbourne.
Prediction: Golubic in 2
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Zheng Qinwen vs Magdalena Frech
Head-to-head: first meeting
Zheng Qinwen has been making impressive strides of late. She reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, where she was the only player to take a set off eventual champion Iga Swiatek, and she backed that up by winning a WTA 125k title on the clay in Valencia. However, her only grass-court outing of the season in Berlin ended in defeat at the hands of world #169 Alycia Parks.
That suggests she might still have some adapting to do when playing on grass. Fortunately for Zheng, the same can be said of Magdalena Frech. The Pole has won a match on grass this year, beating Parrizas Diaz in Birmingham, but Zheng is a better player than the Spaniard and should have enough to get past Frech in their first meeting.
Prediction: Zheng in 3
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Elena Gabriela Ruse vs Lauren Davis
Head-to-head: Davis 2-0 Ruse
This has the makings of an interesting match. Lauren Davis is a better player than her record suggests, with injuries having played havoc with her career. When she is fit and firing, she has the quality to trouble most players on the WTA Tour. But Elena Gabriela Ruse has made a very solid start to life on the WTA Tour and is enjoying a career-best season. That said, Davis has played more grass-court tennis so far this season and her game looks better suited to the surface. Expect a close contest, but for the American to edge past Ruse and into the second round.
Prediction: Davis in 3
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