{"id":21455,"date":"2019-10-29T13:20:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T17:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=21455"},"modified":"2019-10-29T13:20:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T17:20:43","slug":"wta-finals-day-4-predictions-halep-svitolina-pliskova-andreescu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/10\/29\/wta-finals-day-4-predictions-halep-svitolina-pliskova-andreescu\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Finals Day 4 Predictions: Simona Halep vs Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova vs Bianca Andreescu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the WTA Finals. A lingering shoulder injury left the first round winner unable to compete. At this time, Osaka believes it is muscular and can be rehabbed with rest. Tenth in the race, Kiki Bertens entered the competition as an alternate and chalked up her first win. Thursday will be an important day for the Red Group as a semifinal bid is viable all four contenders.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Group takes the court for the second round of the group stage. Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina square off, with wins in their opening round. Karolina Pliskova and Bianca Andreescu will be fighting for their first win on Day 4. Who\u2019ll move a step closer in their championship bid?<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Finals Day 4 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Simona Halep vs Elina Svitolina<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head to head: <\/strong>Halep 3-4 Svitolina<\/p>\n<p>Simona Halep turned in a gritty and determined performance in her opening round. The Romanian battled back after dropping the first set. Halep\u2019s stellar defense allowed her to keep balls in play that few opponents can handle. The World #5 capitalized on returning serve, winning 44% of return points and breaking the Andreescu serve on six occasions. The pain point in the Halep game was her service. Halep got 60% of her first serves in play but defended only 48% of her second delivery. Against a red-hot returner in the form of Elina Svitolina, Halep is going to need to improve here.<\/p>\n<p>Elina Svitolina should be brimming with confidence after defeating Karolina Pliskova in her opener. It was a strong performance from the defending champion. The Ukrainian hasn\u2019t claimed a title in 2019, and will be intent on retaining this title. Svitolina was rock solid in the big moments and attacked any weak deliveries from Pliskova. It\u2019s a dangerous skill which could well upend Simona Halep.<\/p>\n<p>While Svitolina is title-less in 2019, she is clearly determined to claim the title in Shenzhen. Svitolina has been the more consistent player. Halep may have gained confidence with her opening round win, but she hasn\u2019t shown the level which led her to the Wimbledon championship. I see Svitolina battling through to another win.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Svitolina in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"kkgMNA9eRidUwY6iXCd8EA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1178652983\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'kkgMNA9eRidUwY6iXCd8EA',sig:'x-89TODB7q57fFmdj2AfyNaiz-ewZMC2GZZpmG9I8uA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1178652983',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Karolina Pliskova vs Bianca Andreescu<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head to head: <\/strong>Pliskova 0-1 Andreescu<\/p>\n<p>Bianca Andreescu couldn\u2019t find a way through Simona Halep in her opening match. In a long, three set bout, the Canadian couldn\u2019t claim vital points. Halep\u2019s ability to get one more ball back simply ground down the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/2019\/04\/24\/bianca-andreescu-inspiring-a-nation\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">teen phenom<\/a>. Andreescu is one of the best second serve defenders. Yet, the World #4 lost 43% of her service games. Is it the elite competition or the nerves? It was an atypical performance from the US Open Champion. This is a must win match for Andreescu in WTA Final campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Karolina Pliskova fell in straight sets to defending champion Elina Svitolina. The Czech played well, but couldn\u2019t capitalize on the biggest moments. Pliskova&#8217;s big serve was there, finding seven aces. Yet, the Czech also had six double faults. Pliskova won just 39% behind her second delivery \u2013 a stat she\u2019ll need to lift against the strong return game of Andreescu.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, Pliskova played well in her opening. A few points could have shifted the dynamic of the Pliskova opener. Look for the World #2 to bounce back strong for her second round. Whether it\u2019s the elite competition or the toll of a long season, the US Open champion was unable to find a win. Surely, there\u2019s a certain amount of nerves which come with a maiden trip to the WTA Finals. I see Pliskova\u2019s good form and experience giving her the edge in the match.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Pliskova in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"e_19-zAzR-1rZ8YyVqUgEA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1178659755\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'e_19-zAzR-1rZ8YyVqUgEA',sig:'jXVqRWDe6i1cD-Do0seYKGji_LFWctkjV7T-9MwXS6g=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1178659755',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the WTA Finals. A lingering shoulder injury left the first round winner unable to compete. At this time, Osaka believes it is muscular and can be rehabbed with rest. Tenth in the race, Kiki Bertens entered the competition as an alternate and chalked up her first win. Thursday will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":21458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[69,4],"tags":[9591,9594,3553,394,9593,147,9592,9595,74,7169,9596,2373,2369,9590,9514],"class_list":["post-21455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","category-wta","tag-2019-wta-year-end-finals","tag-andreescu-wta-finals","tag-bianca-andreescu","tag-elina-svitolina","tag-halep-wta-finals","tag-karolina-pliskova","tag-karolina-pliskova-vs-bianca-andrescu-prediction","tag-pliskova-wta-finals","tag-simona-halep","tag-simona-halep-vs-elina-svitolina-prediction","tag-svitolina-wta-finals","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-wta-final","tag-wta-finals-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21455","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\/1838"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}