{"id":29529,"date":"2020-10-22T21:26:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T01:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=29529"},"modified":"2020-10-23T12:08:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T16:08:13","slug":"wta-ostrava-open-day-5-predictions-including-victoria-azarenka-vs-elise-mertens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2020\/10\/22\/wta-ostrava-open-day-5-predictions-including-victoria-azarenka-vs-elise-mertens\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Ostrava Open Day 5 Predictions Including Victoria Azarenka vs Elise Mertens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ostrava Open has shown itself to be the kind of tournament that laughs in the face of expectation and thumbs its nose at those foolish enough to attempt to predict the future, from a slew of last minute additions to the draw to the routine dropping of seeded players at the hands of talented floaters. Day five promises more thrilling matches.<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Ostrava Open Day 5 Predictions Including Victoria Azarenka vs Elise Mertens<\/h2>\n<h4><a id=\"hNN5JfbWSSJrbMGsmBZy_A\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1278092592\" target=\"_blank\" 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:'hNN5JfbWSSJrbMGsmBZy_A',sig:'CVXLe1YEGtBBnSjX8VArZsH9EZzWBfHVj9JFCBXhTw0=',w:'594px',h:'421px',items:'1278092592',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/h4>\n<h4>Maria Sakkari vs Ons Jabeur<\/h4>\n<p>Head to head: 1-0 Jabeur<\/p>\n<p>Ons Jabeur\u2019s thrilling variety and creative shot-selection disrupted Jelena Ostapenko\u2019s power game and made the talented Latvian look one dimensional. Maria Sakkari, though she has not achieved what Ostapenko has, is a more adept player with more avenues to victory. The pair haven\u2019t met for years so Jabeur\u2019s previous victory does not provide much insight. Sakkari\u2019s recent strong performances against Serena Williams \u2013 the victory at the Western and Southern Open and her loss at the US Open \u2013 show how deep she can dig to stay in matches. Jabeur\u2019s form has carried over from her quarterfinal run at the French Open, but Sakkari\u2019s ability to deal with Jabeur\u2019s mercurial style of play will diffuse the imaginative Tunisian\u2019s highly watchable game.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Sakkari in 3.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><a id=\"lH4BQtPdRWN72groRQRMZQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1270698827\" target=\"_blank\" 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:'lH4BQtPdRWN72groRQRMZQ',sig:'B9HOOdMizT_EmWrCMJT8ArL6dokMDzapSO5REic_ouw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1270698827',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/h4>\n<h4>Sara Sorribes Tormo vs Aryna Sabalenka<\/h4>\n<p>Head to head: 0-0<\/p>\n<p>Sara Sorribes Tormo has blitzed her way through qualifying \u2013 helped by a walkover against Anna Blinkova \u2013 to a spot in the quarterfinals facing third seed Aryna Sabalenka. Though she has played many more matches, she could well show up fresher than Sabalenka who battled through a three set marathon against Coco Gauff. After swiftly dropping the first set Sabalenka dug in and finally won the match in a third set tiebreak after falling behind in the score early in the decider. Tired legs or not, Sabalenka can take heart from the fact she sits 72 spots higher in the rankings than Sorribes Tormo. Sorribes Tormo\u2019s dream run is likely at an end as her game is a poor match for Sabalenka\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Sabalenka in 2.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><a id=\"T4IVud3vQcl2VC-nPLqFqA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1277810202\" target=\"_blank\" 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:'T4IVud3vQcl2VC-nPLqFqA',sig:'qtQLO_2745-LZhSJG213c_6JD4RqD6-FAxDLNm8z0nw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1277810202',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/h4>\n<h4>Jennifer Brady vs Veronika Kudermetova<\/h4>\n<p>Head to head: 1-0 Brady<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Brady\u2019s US Open semifinal and her run to the finals in Lexington rather than her first round loss at the French Open are the indicator for her level in Ostrava. She was pushed hard by Dayana Yastremska in the round of 32, but found her form against Daria Kasatkina, seeing off the skilled Russian in straight sets. Brady\u2019s full potential is still not quite certain since her level has so dramatically risen since lockdown, but she should have more than enough to best Kudermetova who did well to beat second seed Karolina Pliskova in three sets, but is not playing as cleanly or confidently as Brady.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Brady in 2.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><a id=\"oycxfT_NRVtid_bGecfIrw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1228801973\" target=\"_blank\" 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:'oycxfT_NRVtid_bGecfIrw',sig:'IG99axd0LA0k4K5k2FJbFn74daFLP9n4mWIXkYD9zbY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1228801973',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/h4>\n<h4>Victoria Azarenka vs Elise Mertens<\/h4>\n<p>Head to head: 1-0 Azarenka<\/p>\n<p>Victoria Azarenka and Elise Mertens have met only once before. At the end of that encounter, Azarenka had won a match against Mertens and Mertens had won a game against Azarenka. Mertens was overwhelmed by Azarenka\u2019s clean striking and smooth movement. While it is unlikely the score will be so lopsided again \u2013 both are talented players \u2013 that recent memory will give Azarenka an easy well of power to draw upon. She will also have her recent string of success on hard courts to give her confidence. She is currently 13-1 on hard courts since the start of the Western and Southern Open and her run looks in no danger of being stopped.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Azarenka in 2.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main image:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"99E4ZCkgRYJxHeI4qD8DIA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1272153361\" target=\"_blank\" 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:'99E4ZCkgRYJxHeI4qD8DIA',sig:'isXyjoZT4V8W2L7TVK297CMniC8RAYmZohX823wTDQY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1272153361',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>The Ostrava Open has shown itself to be the kind of tournament that laughs in the face of expectation and thumbs its nose at those foolish enough to attempt to predict the future, from a slew of last minute additions to the draw to the routine dropping of seeded players at the hands of talented [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2515,"featured_media":29538,"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":[4,69],"tags":[1766,1412,621,12985,305,12983,1096,12901,4122,12984,2373,2369,5398,393,12223,12939,12938,12937],"class_list":["post-29529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wta","category-predictions","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-elise-mertens","tag-jennifer-brady","tag-jennifer-brady-vs-veronika-kudermetova-prediction","tag-maria-sakkari","tag-maria-sakkari-vs-ons-jabeur-prediction","tag-ons-jabeur","tag-ostrava-open","tag-sara-sorribes-tormo","tag-sara-sorribes-tormo-vs-aryna-sabalenka-prediction","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-veronika-kudermetova","tag-victoria-azarenka","tag-victoria-azarenka-vs-elise-mertens-prediction","tag-wta-ostrava","tag-wta-ostrava-open","tag-wta-ostrava-open-predictions"],"modified_by":"Jack Rossiter-Munley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29529","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\/2515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}