The U.S. Open Series commences with the WTA 500 in Washington, brought back last year after a short absence and now upgraded to a higher category. As always, we here at LWOT will preview and predict every match. Who do you think will win?
WTA Washington Day 2 Predictions
Sorana Cirstea vs Petra Martic
Head-to-head: Martic 2-1 Cirstea
Both players are coming off of Wimbledon third-round runs, Cirstea’s a bit more impressive as she took out Tatjana Maria and Jelena Ostapenko while Martic got a third-set retirement from Linda Fruhvirtova and beat Diane Parry. The two have not faced each other in almost a decade, Petra Martic winning their most recent match at Guangzhou 2014 having split their first two meetings during the 2012 European indoor hard season. This match could go either way but Cirstea is probably a slightly better hardcourt player at this point.
Bernarda Pera vs Leylah Fernandez
Head-to-head: first meeting
Pera was defending back-to-back titles in the past two weeks, managing to reach at least a quarterfinal in Hamburg while losing to Diana Shnaider at both events. Fernandez, outside of the Top 80 at the moment, had to come through qualifying. The Canadian’s quality on U.S. hard have been proven though and she impressed in her straight-set wins over Varvara Gracheva and Katie Boulter. Pera is primarily a clay-court player and with Fernandez looking good at the moment, the 20-year-old is the favorite for me.
Jennifer Brady vs Anhelina Kalinina
Head-to-head: Brady 1-0 Kalinina
Brady is set to make her WTA Tour return after almost two years away with injury struggles. The 28-year-old made her pro tennis return two weeks ago in Granby, losing in the second round. Kalinina had her breakout run to the Rome final but since suffering an injury that forced her to retire during it, the Ukrainian is yet to win back-to-back matches. The 26-year-old has always been superior on clay to hard courts so Brady could very well make a winning return here.
Prediction: Brady in 3
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