{"id":108925,"date":"2026-07-22T14:57:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=108925"},"modified":"2026-07-22T14:57:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T18:57:42","slug":"wta-prague-day-4-predictions-including-barbora-krejcikova-vs-lucie-havlickova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/07\/22\/wta-prague-day-4-predictions-including-barbora-krejcikova-vs-lucie-havlickova\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Prague Day 4 Predictions Including Barbora Krejcikova vs Lucie Havlickova"},"content":{"rendered":"

The quarterfinal lineup at WTA Prague<\/a> is almost complete, with the four matches to play scheduled on Thursday on what promises to be an entertaining day of tennis in the Czech capital. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, as well as the WTA Hamburg action, but who will make it to the last eight in Prague?<\/a><\/p>\n

WTA Prague Day 4 Predictions<\/h2>\n

Nikola Bartunkova vs Lanlana Tararudee<\/h4>\n

Head-to-head: <\/strong>first meeting<\/p>\n

Nikola Bartunkova is riding the kind of form that turns heads after digging deep to overturn a set deficit against Yuan Yue to book her spot in the next round at the Prague Open.<\/p>\n

Up next is Lanlana Tararudee, who’s had to work for her own progress here, edging past 16-year-old wildcard Jana Kovackova 6-3 5-7 6-2. The Thai has been on a tear all season, and she arrives with genuine momentum.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Bartunkova is surging toward the world’s top 40 and, on paper and on home soil, she should edge this, even though Tararudee’s confidence makes this far from a formality.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Bartunkova in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Mai Hontama vs Lilli Tagger<\/h4>\n

Head-to-head: <\/strong>first meeting<\/p>\n

Mai Hontama continues to make waves on the WTA Tour, backing up her win over Magda Linette in Athens with another top-100 scalp, this time Diane Parry, to reach the second round in Prague. The world #202 needed just under an hour to see off the Frenchwoman, cruising through the second set after a tighter opener. Two top-100 wins in as many weeks is a serious statement for a qualifier, and Hontama will carry that momentum into a much-anticipated clash with rising star Lilli Tagger.<\/p>\n

Tagger, for her part, made light work of Gao Xinyu, converting three of four break points en route to a 6-2 6-4 victory at WTA Prague, her second win over the Chinese qualifier this season after also beating her in Australian Open qualifying. At 18, the Austrian boasts a game built on power and looks the higher-ranked favourite on paper.<\/p>\n

But Hontama’s giant-killing run shows no signs of slowing, and if she can find the same range that troubled Parry, this has the makings of the upset of the round.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Hontama in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Sara Bejlek vs Maria Timofeeva<\/h4>\n

Head-to-head: <\/strong>first meeting<\/p>\n

Maria Timofeeva will fancy her chances of reaching the third round in Prague, and her form suggests she can. The 84th-ranked Russian showed serious grit in round one, storming back from 4-1 down in the second set to reel off five straight games and see off Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 6-4, breaking serve five times along the way. With three ITF titles already banked this season, Timofeeva looks like a player growing in confidence with every match.<\/p>\n

But she’ll need to bring her A-game against Sara Bejlek, who ground out a gritty three-set win over Anna Blinkova to book her spot in round two. The Czech’s mental toughness was on full display in a marathon 11-9 first-set tiebreak, and although her level dipped in the second, she found another gear to close it out 7-6 3-6 6-1.<\/p>\n

With both players comfortable grinding from the back of the court and reading return games well, expect this one to go the distance, a baseline battle where the player who holds their nerve in the big moments edges it.<\/p>\n

Prediction:<\/em> Timofeeva<\/em> in 3<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Barbora Krejcikova vs Lucie Havlickova<\/h4>\n

Head-to-head: <\/strong>first meeting<\/p>\n

Lucia Havlickova’s run at WTA Prague continues into a proper test of nerve now after the 18-year-old wildcard beat Alycia Parks in straight sets, saving every single one of six break points she faced, and now she’s got to do it all again against veteran compatriot Barbora Krejcikova<\/a> on home soil, with a home crowd expecting more.<\/p>\n

That composure under pressure is real, and she showed the same level-headedness Krejcikova did in her own straight-sets win over Fruhvirtova<\/a>, but the gulf in variety and experience between an 18-year-old wildcard and a two-time Grand Slam champion is the story here.<\/p>\n

Krejcikova arrives with six straight wins and a title from Athens just 48 hours old, and while that quick turnaround could catch up with her legs at some point, her baseline craft and big-match composure make her the clear favourite regardless. Expect Havlickova to make her earn it, but Krejcikova’s superior shot-making and reserves of experience should be enough to get her through.<\/p>\n

Prediction:<\/em> Krejcikova in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Main photo credit: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The quarterfinal lineup at WTA Prague is almost complete, with the four matches to play scheduled on Thursday on what promises to be an entertaining day of tennis in the Czech capital. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, as well as the WTA Hamburg […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4883,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3976,15545,18559,18558,43404,43405,16311,16310,16876,16877,19021,19022,17546,17547,18103,18104,2373,2369,11652,5702],"class_list":["post-108925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-predictions","tag-barbora-krejcikova","tag-barbora-krejcikova-predictions","tag-lanlana-tararudee","tag-lanlana-tararudee-predictions","tag-lilli-tagger","tag-lilli-tagger-predictions","tag-lucie-havlickova","tag-lucie-havlickova-predictions","tag-mai-hontama","tag-mai-hontama-predictions","tag-maria-timofeeva","tag-maria-timofeeva-predictions","tag-nikola-bartunkova","tag-nikola-bartunkova-predictions","tag-sara-bejlek","tag-sara-bejlek-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-wta-prague","tag-wta-prague-predictions"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4883"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108925"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108933,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108925\/revisions\/108933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}