After Victoria Mboko’s sensational victory in the Canada Masters, the WTA tour shifts to Cincinnati for another WTA 1000 event. The seeds won’t be in action until the weekend, but this Friday should still be a great day of tennis, full of high quality and very unpredictable matches given how evenly matched most matchups look on paper. We have predictions for every first round match.
WTA Cincinnati Day 2 Predictions
Xinyu Wang vs Emiliana Arango
Head-to-head: first meeting
On paper, this is one of the most one sided matches of the round, with Wang in contention to be seeded at the US Open (and needing a decent run here for that) and Arango not really playing well at the moment, having even lost to Bouchard last week in Canada. Judging by their general level and current form, Wang should have a very clear edge in this matchup.
Prediction: Wang in 2
Caroline Dolehide vs Rebecca Sramkova
Head-to-head: first meeting
This is a very difficult match to call as both players have very similar overall levels and both have been struggling to string consistent wins recently. The fact that they never faced each other before also makes the matchup dynamics harder to predict, of course. All things considered, it should be an extremely close match, decided by who holds their nerve and executes better in the biggest points.
Prediction: Dolehide in 3
Maria Sakkari vs Kamilla Rakhimova
Head-to-head: Sakkari 1-0 Rakhimova
Sakkari is far from the level that once made her a top 10 player but she’s still battling hard to get back to her best. Although she is the lower ranked player in this matchup, her overall credentials are clearly superior and the outcome of this match should mostly depend on what kind of level she can bring to the table here. If she can play anywhere close to her best level, she should advance here.
Prediction: Sakkari in 3
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
