Some of the first round action at the 2023 Lausanne Open will see Danka Kovinic take on Jenny Durst and Reka Jani play Chloe Paquet. Get the latest predictions along with the odds, preview and head to head for these matches along with Valentini Grammatikopoulou v Dalila Jakupovic.
Danka Kovinic v Jenny Durst Preview
Head-to-Head: This will be the first meeting between these two players.
Kovinic’s poor form this season has meant that her ranking has taken a big tumble. Once ranked 46th in the world when at her best, she is now on the verge of crashing out of the top 100 and a good showing at these tournaments will be much needed for her to stall that regression.
Clay has been Kovinic’s favourite surface by some distance too which is a good starting point for her but her lack of a lot of high-quality tennis in recent times could be a factor here.
After getting knocked out in the first round of the French Open, Kovinic hadn’t taken to court till featuring in a WTA 125 tournament in Iasi a week ago. Even there, she made just the second round before falling to the 2/1 underdog Raluca Serban.
The good news for Kovinic is she will start her proceedings here against the lucky loser Jenny Durst who was roundly beaten by Dalila Jakupovic in the qualifiers. The 24-year-old still made the main draw as a result of a spate of withdrawals but will know that she is up against a player who likes her time on clay.
Not to mention that Durst’s form hasn’t quite been up to the scratch either and she has fallen to 442nd in the world. Tough times ahead for her.
Kovinic v Durst Tip
Kovinic to win AND Over 17.5 games: 20/21
Reka Jani v Chloe Paquet Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been two previous meetings – one in the qualifiers of the 2022 Indian Wells Open and the other on the ITF circuit. Both players have won once apiece.
After having been at her season best ranking of 111th at the end of January this year, Jani’s form has fallen away drastically and she is currently lagging behind at 169th in the world. A lot of that has been down to her performances outside of clay with Jani winning just two of those 12 matches.
The bigger problem for Jani is her performance on clay. She has done a lot better there than outside of clay but hasn’t won a main draw match at the highest level all season.
Jani enters this tournament as a qualifier having defeated Amandine Hesse with utmost ease, giving a sense of a semblance of form but can she continue on that path consistently?
Up against her is another qualifier in the form of Chloe Paquet, who had crushed Carol Zhao in her pre-tournament rounds. Before that, Paquet had also made the second round in the WTA 125 event in Bastad but that was her only win on the WTA circuit for the year.
What that implies is this could turn out to be a pretty close encounter that sees neither player give an inch. Might even see a third set.
Jani v Paquet Tip
Games Handicap Jani +3.5: 10/11
Valentini Grammatikopoulou v Dalila Jakupovic Preview
Head-to-Head: Their only previous meeting came on the ITF circuit in 2016 where Jakupovic defeated Grammatikopoulou in three sets on clay.
Grammatikopoulou had fallen to a season-low ranking of 221st in the first week of May this year but since then has steadily made a climb back up to 170th and that has been down to her clay form.
She won an ITF title at Otocec in June and made the quarterfinal of another such tournament the very next week.
A five-match losing streak did not help matters for Grammatikopoulou but a spot in the main draw of the Budapest Open – albeit as a lucky loser – and the qualification for this tournament in Lausanne will go a long way in pushing her towards her career-best ranking of 143rd.
Up against her is a player who was once ranked 69th in the world. Jakupovic is more of a doubles player having won two WTA titles there but she did make it to the final of the 2017 WTA Mumbai competition, an equivalent of the current WTA 125 series of tournaments.
She was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka, who at that time wasn’t even in the top 90. The trajectory of the two players turned out to be a very different one from that point onward but that’s a story for another day as the now-267th-ranked Jakupovic hopes to get things back on track.
Grammatikopoulou v Jakupovic Tip
Grammatikopoulou to win: 1/1
The 2023 Lausanne Open will be played from July 24 to 30. Get our ultimate guide on tennis betting and predictions here.
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