{"id":40018,"date":"2021-08-01T18:27:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T22:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=40018"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:51:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T21:51:17","slug":"wta-cluj-napoca-day-1-predictions-juvan-vs-melnikova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/08\/01\/wta-cluj-napoca-day-1-predictions-juvan-vs-melnikova\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Cluj-Napoca Day 1 Predictions Including Kaja Juvan vs Marina Melnikova"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kaja Juvan and Lesia Tsurenko are among the players in action on day 1 of the WTA Cluj-Napoca Winners Open tournament on clay in Romania. Here is a look at all of the first round action on Monday.<\/p>\n<h3>Kaja Juvan vs Marina Melnikova<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1233298697\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1233298697?et=5ghlzCDFTo1XfRB1HrQJ5w&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=mw6HU3Jl4hpHZCKH1QD8S2FMxepqn0dCAJ05AqDVFek=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Juvan is struggling without question, but Melnikova is not a WTA caliber player right now, she&#8217;s never achieved a top 150 ranking and only has 2 WTA tour wins in 14 matches in her career. Sporadic ITF and WTA qualifying success aside for Melnikova, Juvan looks to be the better player with a stronger WTA resume, perhaps this match will give her the opportunity to find the form she&#8217;s been lacking all season. <strong>Juvan in 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Evelyne Tiron vs Lara Arruabarrena<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1204839567\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 64.81481% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1204839567?et=7rs2guV2RIdIfTqaevaQgQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=uOa7D0aBGukby3PtMNWrbwTVmL-F9LVwUUvrHUjxscc=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"385\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A former top 60 player, Arruabarrena has fallen on hard times and hasn&#8217;t made a run of any note since reaching the quarters in Bogota months ago. The Spaniard is a clay court specialist and will be desperate to break a three match losing streak and a 1-5 record overall since qualifying for the French Open. Tiron is an <a href=\"https:\/\/gousfbulls.com\/sports\/womens-tennis\/roster\/evelyne--tiron\/12542\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NCAA player at the University of South Florida<\/a>, and a local wild card as she hails from Bucharest. This is a great opportunity for the home player who hasn&#8217;t played outside of the NCAA circuit since 2018. Arruabarrena&#8217;s experience on clay should shine through but this could get interesting. <strong>Arruabarrena in 2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs Lesia Tsurenko<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1328178552\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 62.794613% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1328178552?et=3D4VDQWuQzh1jVEfrcWgAw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=8gzS5RdKI8ygWRgKonDrpnXoLsyvqj0mXzXl-jQzQoM=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"373\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tsurenko is winless at WTA level this season, the former top 25 player has found some success in WTA qualifying and the ITF circuit though. Ruse sits at a career high just outside the top 100, the home Romanian player is having a breakthrough season after her winning her first WTA title as a qualifier in Hamburg, and backing that up with a run to the final in Palermo. Ruse compiled an incredible 13-1 record in recent weeks with the back to back finals, and now gets to play at home during the best run of form of her tennis career. Tsurenko is a competitive opponent, but everything favors Ruse in this matchup.<strong> Ruse in 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Briana Szabo vs Katarzyna Kawa<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1014523682\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1014523682?et=jBL_aKAyQUxGEd5JwdWZhw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=KcS1uGoasmGNgl_bTcwgGzL5WlRWelvLzJ75bxMaNBU=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 15 year old Szabo makes her WTA debut, Kawa comes off the quarterfinals of a home tournament in Gdynia, by far her best tournament result of the season. Kawa is not a world beater but she has found some form and Szabo is a total unknown. The Polish player is favored. <strong>Kawa in 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1320950903\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1320950903?et=ZoowmVoFTgFJ_z5lFNBUsg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=Rb5JinSnbX2YLkI2-3AS4c2c2B6KMOr0hfe9agf_aic=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kaja Juvan and Lesia Tsurenko are among the players in action on day 1 of the WTA Cluj-Napoca Winners Open tournament on clay in Romania. Here is a look at all of the first round action on Monday. Kaja Juvan vs Marina Melnikova Embed from Getty Images Juvan is struggling without question, but Melnikova is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":40019,"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":[16544,16545,5227,16390,16542,16543,6217,15957,7489,16410,2977,15541,537,16186,16265,16266,2373,2369,16540,16541,2374,4935],"class_list":["post-40018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","category-wta","tag-briana-szabo","tag-briana-szabo-predictions","tag-elena-gabriela-ruse","tag-elena-gabriela-ruse-predictions","tag-evelyne-tiron","tag-evelyne-tiron-predictions","tag-kaja-juvan","tag-kaja-juvan-predictions","tag-katarzyna-kawa","tag-katarzyna-kawa-predictions","tag-lara-arruabarrena","tag-lara-arruabarrena-predictions","tag-lesia-tsurenko","tag-lesia-tsurenko-predictions","tag-marina-melnikova","tag-marina-melnikova-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-wta-cluj-napoca","tag-wta-cluj-napoca-predictions","tag-wta-picks","tag-wta-predictions"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40018","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\/1442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}