Who will win the 2019 WTA Korea Open 2019 quarter-finals that will be played on Friday, September 20? Here’re the Ekaterina Alexandrova v Kristine Ahn & Karolina Muchova v Priscila Hon tips and predictions with their previews.
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Ekaterina Alexandrova v Kristine Ahn Preview & Predictions
This will be the first ever match-up between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Kristie Ahn, both of whom are looking to exhibit continued showing of form. Alexandrova wasted no time in beating Greet Minnen in the first round before getting past Kristyna Pliskova in a tough three-setter.
Ahn’s has had an interesting tournament so far with each of her first three sets in the tournament having seen a bagel. She won her first round match 6-0, 6-0 against Timea Bacsinszky before losing the first set of the second round match against Anna Bogdan 6-0. Thereafter, however, she fought back to win the next two sets and clinched a place in the quarter-final.
Now Ahn will be a sentimental favourite among fans, having shown great determination to come through years of poor results and a corporate American job waiting on the sidelines. However, Alexandrova could hold the edge here, having also reached her career-best WTA ranking of 39th in the world and looking for so much more.
Tip: Alexandrova to win in three sets: 16/5 (Unibet)
Karolina Muchova v Priscilla Hon Preview & Predictions
In what will be a second meeting between these two players, Karolina Muchova will start out a heavy favourite at 1/5 against Australia’s Priscilla Hon. Interestingly, their only previous match had resulted in Hon getting past Muchova but that was in 2017 in this very tournament. It was a first round match that went to three sets.
Muchova, however, has shown solid form this year, going on winning streaks to get to 45th in the world – her best ever is 43rd. She was pushed to three sets by Alison van Uytvanck in the first before getting past Timea Babos in straight sets in the second round.
Hon, ranked 119th, is a qualifier in this competition, and won against Mihaela Buzarnescu and Ajla Tomljanovic to get through to this stage. This is her first quarter-final appearance this season at a WTA tournament, but that is where her dream could end for this week.
Tip: Muchova to win in straight sets: 4/5 (888Sport)
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Magda Linette v Kirsten Flipkens Preview & Predictions
The 48th-ranked Magda Linette has never played Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens before this but that shouldn’t take away from the fact the Polish player is enjoying one of her better seasons in recent times. Having won the New York Open earlier this year, she made the second round at US Open, quarter-final at Nanchang last week and now is on the verge of another semi-final this week.
She is yet to drop a set too, beating Irina Begu and Anastasia Potapova in her first two matches, but she was stretched to a 7-5, 7-6 in her previous encounter. Flipkens, on the other hand, won her last WTA title in 2012, and this is just her third tournament on hard courts this year where she has won two matches in a row.
To expect her to now make it three in three would be a tough ask given Linette’s form. In fact Linette looks like she could win this in straight sets and advance to the semi-final.
Tip: Linette to win in straight sets: 6/5 (Unibet)
Wang Yafan v Paula Badosa Preview & Predictions
Wang Yafan looks like she is trying to regain the form that had won her the tournament at Acapulco earlier this year, beating Ysaline Bonaventure in a fighting three-setter to make the quarter-final. In fact since making it all the way through to the round of 16 at Miami, Yafan has won successive matches in just one tournament this year before this week.
This is also why that added confidence will go a long way for Yafan, who is playing Paula Badosa for the first time in her career. Badosa has risen to 88th in the world, having begun the year at 140 and being 247th at the start of 2018. And having made the quarter-final here should add to her points tally too.
Expecting a fighting match with nothing to separate the two players, going into a third set.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 7/5 (Unibet)