Third seed Xiyu Wang will take on Anca Todoni in the opening round of the 2024 WTA Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. The Romanian 19-year-old is a very exciting prospect and has been looking for an opportunity like this. Will she be able to leave her mark on the event by eliminating a high-ranked player? Who do you think will prevail? We also predict the rest of Tuesday’s matches in a separate article.
WTA Budapest Day 2 Predictions
Ella Seidel vs Moyuka Uchijima
Head-to-head: First meeting
Moyuka Uchijima might have slowed down on grass, but she’ll be deadly again if she can tap into that form that had her on a 19-match win streak. That run was only snapped by Aryna Sabalenka in the second round at Roland Garros, which came after two stacked ITF titles on clay. It’s not like 19-year-old Ella Seidel doesn’t have any potential, but she went out in the qualifying here to Gergana Topalova. This lucky loser opportunity probably isn’t there for the taking for her.
Prediction: Uchijima in 2
Eva Lys vs Nadia Podoroska
Head-to-head: First meeting
Nadia Podoroska hit a very strong patch around the Sunshine Double earlier this year, but her recent appearances haven’t been that great. She’s actually coming off a shock opening-round exit to Diana Martynov at the WTA 125 in Contrexeville. It’s tough to estimate where that puts her with Eva Lys having a bit more confidence after qualifying for Wimbledon, but also switching back to clay here. Maybe the former Roland Garros semifinalist can find her game in time.
Prediction: Podoroska in 3
Tamara Korpatsch vs Bernarda Pera
Head-to-head: 1-1
Bernarda Pera won this event two years ago, but then couldn’t follow it up and went out to Diana Shnaider in the opening round in 2023. The American is usually at her best on clay with the heavy lefty topspin, although she did perform very well during the grass swing just now. It should fuel her with confidence ahead of this match and she’s already defeated Tamara Korpatsch this year (albeit on hard courts). In the previous edition Pera received a very tough opening draw, this one isn’t quite as deadly.
Prediction: Pera in 2
Xiyu Wang vs Anca Todoni
Head-to-head: First meeting
This isn’t an easy match at all for the third seed. Anca Todoni qualified and won a round at Wimbledon, not long after picking up a clay WTA 125 in Bari. The Romanian is a very interesting prospect with an all-rounded game that showed even more layers in her performances on grass. Some sort of a breakthrough result is coming for Todoni and a win over Wang here would be a massive achievement. It doesn’t seem impossible for her to catch the Chinese lefty off-guard here.
Prediction: Todoni in 3
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
