Some of the first round action at the 2023 Hamburg Open will see Julia Grabher playing Miriam Bulgaru and Kaia Kanepi facing Kaja Juvan. Get the latest predictions along with the odds, preview and head to head for these matches.
Julia Grabher v Miriam Bulgaru Preview
Head-to-Head: This will be the first meeting between the 61st-ranked Grabher and the world number 224, Bulgaru.
Grabher hit her career-best ranking of 54th recently but a run of five successive defeats has pushed her down the charts a little.
She looked to be riding high after making the third round at the Italian Open and following that up with her maiden appearance in the final of a WTA event when she entered the title-decider at the Rabat Open. Since then, however, things have gone south for the Austrian.
Two of those defeats have come on grass which isn’t quite Grabher’s favourite surface but three losses on clay would pinch. Especially a first round straight-set drubbing at the hands of Clara Burel in Palermo last week.
She now has a chance to put it past Miriam Bulgaru whose solidity is restricted to the ITF level at which she has won five titles. All of those five, however, have come on clay, making this an interesting contest.
Tough to go against Grabher though despite her form because of her far superior experience.
Grabher v Bulgaru Tip
Grabher to win: 4/6
Kaia Kanepi v Kaja Juvan Preview
Head-to-Head: The 93rd-ranked Kanepi and world number 149 Juvan have never faced off before this.
Former world number 15 Kanepi was in some sort of a form last season but has fallen to 93rd in the world after a string of poor results this year.
As a result of that, she has been forced to play on the ITF circuit and two weeks ago, won her first title of the season at that level. She dropped just one set en route her tournament win at Amstelveen.
How much of that helps Kanepi here remains to be see because other than that, her record this season has been underwhelming at best. Before the Amstelveen ITF competition victory she was at a 5-8 win-loss on clay and 8-16 overall.
And while Juvan herself has fallen to 149th in the world, it gives the Slovenian player a good chance here.
Juvan is coming off a couple of qualifying wins, but more vitally was a quarterfinalist at the Budapest Open last week. There again she had made the main draw as a qualifier before overcoming Karolina Kucova and Astra Sharma in the main draw.
We won’t be averse to tipping Juvan for the win here.
Kanepi v Juvan Tip
Juvan to win: 8/11
The 2023 Hamburg Open will be played from July 24 to 30. Get our ultimate guide on tennis betting and predictions here.
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