What a day of tennis it will be at the 2023 WTA Qatar Total Open in Doha on Wednesday. The order of play just reads like one big blockbuster. Iga Swiatek will play for the first time since the Australian Open, facing Danielle Collins in a match of two victims of Elena Rybakina’s brilliance in Melbourne. Who do you think will prevail? We also have predictions for the other four Wednesday matches, including Caroline Garcia vs Karolina Muchova.
WTA Doha Day 3 Predictions
Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Daria Kasatkina
Head-to-head: First meeting
Daria Kasatkina’s beginning of the year hasn’t been amazing with a number of blowout losses already. The Russian has picked up a pretty decent win over Rebecca Marino here, but the style of it was pretty weird too with her hitting no winners in the opening set. Beatriz Haddad Maia seems to have caught some great form in Abu Dhabi last week (semifinal) and is keeping that up in Doha so far, having defeated Paula Badosa on Tuesday. Maybe the slow hard courts here can revive Kasatkina, but for now the Brazilian deserves to be considered the favorite.
Prediction: Haddad Maia in 3
Maria Sakkari vs Ekaterina Alexandrova
Head-to-head: Sakkari 5-1
The head-to-head is a little baffling, especially as the only time Ekaterina Alexandrova took out Maria Sakkari, it was via retirement. Their rivalry includes two matches last year, one on clay in Rome, one indoors in Saint Petersburg. Both finished in straight sets, just like their only outdoor hard-court encounter in San Jose. It seems a little weird as the Russian is not that much worse than Sakkari in terms of pure ball-striking, but who are we to argue with history?
Prediction: Sakkari in 2
Coco Gauff vs Petra Kvitova
Head-to-head: First meeting
Feels like these two must have faced off at some point, but that’s not the case. Petra Kvitova beat Shuai Zhang in the opening round to secure her first meeting against Coco Gauff. The Czech is a bit of a question mark at this stage of her career, not really being a consistent force anymore but still very much capable of producing incredible tennis on her day. With this being Gauff’s first match since the Australian Open, surely she has a decent shot at taking the win here?
Prediction: Kvitova in 3
Iga Swiatek vs Danielle Collins
Head-to-head: 1-1
The last time they played, Danielle Collins crushed Iga Swiatek in the semifinals at the Australian Open. The Pole served basically all her 2nd serves to the backhand, which remains an extremely baffling tactical choice. She won’t repeat this error again, but it doesn’t mean this will come easy. Collins is great on serve/return, which is basically the trait that seems to be key against the World No. 1 recently. Swiatek loves these slow hard courts though and she remains the favorite of this clash.
Prediction: Swiatek in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
