{"id":76973,"date":"2024-12-28T20:24:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T01:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=76973"},"modified":"2024-12-28T20:24:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T01:24:31","slug":"wta-brisbane-day-1-predictions-including-magda-linette-vs-mccartney-kessler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/12\/28\/wta-brisbane-day-1-predictions-including-magda-linette-vs-mccartney-kessler\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Brisbane Day 1 Predictions Including Magda Linette vs McCartney Kessler"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 WTA Season gets underway in Brisbane, as players prepare for the Australian Open, we have previews and predictions for every match at the Brisbane International as the sunshine of Australia helps brighten the day of tennis fans worldwide.<\/p>\n<h3>Kamilla Rakhimova vs Suzan Lamens<\/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\/2173360239\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 57.912457% 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\/2173360239?et=SokR62CXR_dz7xPin4X-6A&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=YIiGijik5e_hQ-mBQ9-SOkwruqHLDActSdveQjbUnKQ=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"344\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>At a career high ranking, the 25 year old Lamens won 13 tour level matches in 2024 and over 30 matches overall. That makes her a strong opponent for Rakhimova, who is also at a career high ranking and had 15 tour level wins last season. This is strength vs strength, but Rakhimova is considered the player with slightly more upside, thus she has a slight advantage.<strong> Rakhimova in 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Viktoriya Tomova vs Renata Zarazua<\/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\/2171433723\" 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\/2171433723?et=2-5hv7RhSchyWDaHWrCyRg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=DCPXeutU5mgPF3vzGSn7HS_hKSLt0YbRzAt95N1yrvA=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Both players reached career high rankings in 2024, Tomova was 22-27 at tour level last year and at age 29 is playing the best tennis of her career. Zarazua ended 2024 with a 125 level title, and was 33-15 below WTA level last year, while going 8-10 at tour level. Zarazua at age 27 is trying to take that leap to the WTA main draw standard, while Tomova is already there, even if her record isn&#8217;t amazing. Zarazua won both h2h meetings though so an upset rankings wise seems possible. <strong>Zarazua in 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Anna Blinkova vs Sara Bejlek<\/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\/2168671407\" 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\/2168671407?et=XNgiQPO6RWF65KHc2mg4BQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=-OMtEswZOMrmah8XjLWTpWoipCjnUvf-8FOGm-5P6u8=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bejlek won their only meeting, which came last year on clay. The Czech player Bejlek upset Sara Sorribes Tormo to qualify for the main draw, never in the top 100, she&#8217;s trying to make that leap to the WTA level in 2025 at just 18 years old. The teenage talent won a 75 level title in 2024. Blinkova struggled at tour level in 2024, 12-25 at WTA level was <strong>significantly<\/strong> worse than 2023, which was her career best year. Blinkova has more experience, but she&#8217;s at a disadvantage in this match. <strong>Bejlek in 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Magda Linette vs McCartney Kessler<\/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\/2179788891\" 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\/2179788891?et=HfCMgHTyQxlua9cKZi3ZJw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=9iSGh4uhJo5hYW7OPaUylpE-sCnlqioWg2fbGF_Lqw4=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kessler comes off a career best year where she won 8 tour level matches, the former Florida Gator also won a Challenger level title in 2024. The veteran Linette wrapped up a third consecutive season with more than 25 WTA level wins in a season, she reached two WTA finals in 2024 and lifted a title in one of them. Kessler is rising, but Linette is a pretty reliable and steady pick. <strong>Linette in 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-<em>USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 WTA Season gets underway in Brisbane, as players prepare for the Australian Open, we have previews and predictions for every match at the Brisbane International as the sunshine of Australia helps brighten the day of tennis fans worldwide. Kamilla Rakhimova vs Suzan Lamens Embed from Getty Images At a career high ranking, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":56813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[1763,15867,12545,16288,3541,15647,41787,41786,11115,16437,18103,18104,17500,17501,2373,2369,8604,15699,2320,4156,2374,4935],"class_list":["post-76973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","category-wta","tag-anna-blinkova","tag-anna-blinkova-predictions","tag-kamilla-rakhimova","tag-kamilla-rakhimova-predictions","tag-magda-linette","tag-magda-linette-predictions","tag-mccartney-kessler","tag-mccartney-kessler-predictions","tag-renata-zarazua","tag-renata-zarazua-predictions","tag-sara-bejlek","tag-sara-bejlek-predictions","tag-suzan-lamens","tag-suzan-lamens-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-viktoriya-tomova","tag-viktoriya-tomova-predictions","tag-wta-brisbane","tag-wta-brisbane-predictions","tag-wta-picks","tag-wta-predictions"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76973","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=76973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76975,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76973\/revisions\/76975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}