It’s the quarterfinal round at the WTA 250 in Monterrey, and former champion Elina Svitolina is still on her quest to win a second title. She faces a tricky teenager. Three other matches are on the cards, and we predict who will advance to the last four.
WTA Monterrey Quarterfinal Predictions
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Yue Yuan
Head–to–Head: Alexandrova 0 vs 1 Yuan
Yue Yuan dug deep to find a way past Aleksandra Krunic in the opener before taking Petra Martic to the cleaners in her second match. She looks solid on serve and has committed just a solitary double fault. I think she has enough firepower to get past Alexandrova, who is just playing her third match on hardcourts since Miami.
Prediction: Yuan in 3
Elina Svitolina vs Linda Noskova
Head–to–Head: Svitolina 0 vs 2 Noskova
The fifth and sixth seeds square up for a place in the semifinals in Monterrey. Noskova had to stave off a fightback from Wang Xiyu in the previous round to take the tiebreaker and the match in straight sets to continue her perfect run here.
Former champion Svitolina will have a say about that record as she seeks to become the sixth woman to win the championship more than once. Unlike their previous encounter at the Australian Open, when the Ukrainian retired after just three games, she will win this match if she sees it through.
Prediction: Svitolina in 2
Erika Andreeva vs Lulu Sun
Head–to–Head: First Meeting
The first meeting between these two youngsters promises to be an exciting one. New Zealander Lulu Sun shone brightly at Wimbledon with a superb quarterfinal run before succumbing to Dona Vekic. While she’s more adept on grass, she hasn’t fared too poorly on hard courts despite struggling to reach this point.
Conversely, Andreeva looks more comfortable here in Monterrey on the back of two excellent wins over Anhelina Kalinina and Daniel Collins.
This one could swing either way, but I’ll lean towards the Russian simply because she’s made it through a tougher draw.
Prediction: Andreeva in 3
Emma Navarro vs Magdalena Frech
Head–to–Head: Navarro 1 vs 1 Frech
Both players have traded wins on hard courts in their two previous meetings. However, Navarro has been the more solid player this year, defeating three Top #10 players and showing remarkable resilience to seal a comeback win over Camila Osorio in the previous round.
Frech has surrendered a set in her two matches against lower-ranked players here in Monterrey, and I don’t think she’ll be that lucky with the more established American.
Prediction: Navarro in 2
Main Photo Credit: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports
