The remaining second-round matches will be played on Thursday at the 2023 WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Some of the best performers of the recently-finished WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara are kicking off their Tokyo campaigns, so we’ll see how they handle the change of conditions. Who do you think will make the quarterfinals?
WTA Tokyo Day 4 Predictions
Linda Noskova vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Head-to-head: First meeting
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova returned to the top of the game in very impressive style, especially taking into consideration that she missed almost the entire 2022 season. Her demolition of Donna Vekic in the opening round left an impression and Linda Noskova is a winnable match for her. Let’s give a slight edge to the veteran as albeit extremely talented, the young Czech has a lot more issues keeping a steady level.
Prediction: Pavlyuchenkova in 3
Daria Kasatkina vs Despina Papamichail
Head-to-head: Kasatkina 1-0
Despina Papamichail won three matches to get to this stage of the event, but none of these victories were all that impressive with no top 250 players faced. All in all, the Greek hasn’t shown anything that would encourage us to think that she’s hitting her absolute peak. Daria Kasatkina should have this one pretty comfortably and she showed pretty impressive tenacity in her comeback against Marta Kostyuk in round one.
Prediction: Kasatkina in 2
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Caroline Garcia vs Anhelina Kalinina
Head-to-head: First meeting
Caroline Garcia has fallen off a lot this year, but that semifinal in Guadalajara last week will help her ranking situation. She can still finish in the top 20 and that would be a fairly accurate depiction of where she is right now. The performance bye definitely helped her with the adjustment to the conditions in Tokyo, but facing a dangerous opponent like Anhelina Kalinina, this looks more or less like a coin flip.
Prediction: Kalinina in 3
Maria Sakkari vs Misaki Doi
Head-to-head: Doi 1-0
This is the final tournament of Misaki Doi’s career and defeating Petra Martic is already a wonderful feat for her. Going out against Maria Sakkari would be a nice way to wrap it up, but beating the Greek would be even better. The Guadalajara champion had a bye in the opening round though, so probably had enough time to fly over from Mexico and adjust to the very different conditions in Tokyo.
Prediction: Sakkari in 2
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
