It’s time to wrap up the third round of the women’s singles at the 2024 WTA Rome Open. It promises to be an entertaining sixth day and, as always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, including Aryna Sabalenka vs Dayana Yastremska. But who will reach the last 16?
WTA Rome Day 6 Predictions
Elise Mertens vs Irina-Camelia Begu
Head-to-head: Mertens 3-1 Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu started her season at the end of March and while she hasn’t made any headlines yet, a 10-3 win/loss record certainly looks quite solid. The Romanian’s clay-court skills once took her to the semifinals in Rome (2016), but since then she’s barely made any impact at this event. Elise Mertens has to be perceived as a small favorite here, although it’s not exactly like she’s setting the world on fire herself at the moment. She’s very consistent though.
Prediction: Mertens in 3
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Sofia Kenin vs Rebecca Sramkova
Head-to-head: first meeting
Rebecca Sramkova might finally be getting into the top 100 after all these years, one more win would secure it. The Slovakian has long had the explosive potential to make it, but she kept coming up short. Sofia Kenin has just defeated Ons Jabeur, posting a Top 10 win at this event for the second year straight. She might be fairly vulnerable to upsets herself though and with players like Sramkova, sometimes when they get hot they’re just incredibly tough to stop.
Prediction: Sramkova in 3
Maria Sakkari vs Anhelina Kalinina
Head-to-head: Sakkari 1-1 Kalinina
Anhelina Kalinina could fall out of the top 50 this week if she loses early and doesn’t defend her runner-up points. That run last year looked like a big breakthrough for her, but she has struggled to build on the achievement since. With Maria Sakkari playing as well as she has been in 2024, the Ukrainian’s chances of going that deep again don’t seem great. It’s fairly clear that it’s the 2019 semifinalist who’s the favourite and simply the better player at the moment.
Prediction: Sakkari in 2
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Danielle Collins vs Caroline Garcia
Head-to-head: Collins 4-0
Danielle Collins has completely dominated the head-to-head against Caroline Garcia with no sets dropped in four matches. That seems a little harsh with how high the Frenchwoman’s ceiling is, but then again Collins really handles fellow big-hitters quite well. Since announcing her incoming retirement, she’s also been playing fearless tennis week in, week out. Let’s see if clay helps out Garcia in this matchup, but Collins is still on fire even during this part of the season.
Prediction: Collins in 2
Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
