Some of the second round action at the 2023 Poland Open will see Linda Noskova take on Viktoria Huncakova, and Tereza Martincova play Yanina Wickmayer. Get the latest predictions along with the odds, preview and head to head for these matches along with Lucrezia Stefanini v Jodie Burrage and Lin Zhu v Laura Siegemund.
Linda Noskova v Viktoria Huncakova Preview
Head-to-Head: The pair have met once before in Lyon earlier this year, Noskova winning in straight sets.
Last year Noskova passed the record of Coco Gauff to become the youngest player to break into the top 100.
She reached her first final in Adelaide earlier this year, losing to Arnya Sabalenka in the final, and also reached the third round in Indian Wells.
But the Czech’s campaign in Poland seemed destined to end at the first round stage when she lost the opening set to Jana Fett of Croatia, the world number 248, and went an early break down in the second. Slowly she hauled herself back into the match, recovered to win the second set, and then forced two consecutive breaks in the third set to clinch a hard earned win.
Huncakova is better known as a doubles player. Four years ago she reached the US Open semi-final, and she has made two finals this year, winning in Linz, and finishing runner-up in Rosmalen.
Her singles successes have been confined to the ITF tour, and it has been five years since she won a tournament at that level, although in June she did make the last four on the grass of Rosmalen.
She was the beneficiary of a kind first round draw in Poland, playing a woman ranked 490th in the world, Kristina Kucova of Slovakia. A routine straight sets victory booked her place in the second round.
Having survived a first round scare, Noskova should be focused on the task in hand and believe that she can beat Huncakova for the second time this year.
Noskova v Huncakova Tip:
Noskova to win: 5/7
Tereza Martincova v Yanina Wickmayer Preview
Head-to-Head: The pair have never met before.
Preview:
Two years ago Martincova was the beaten finalist at the Czech Open and last year she won her first senior title in the doubles in Slovenia.
But it has been a disappointing season for the Czech so far, which has seen her drop out of the top 100.
A good run in Warsaw could see her begin heading in the right direction again and she made a fine start, knocking out the fifth seed Shuai Zhang of China, getting the better of her in a first set tie-break and then breaking her to love to second victory in the second.
It has been seven years since Wickmayer won the last of her five WTA titles in Washington, but she has been enjoying something of a renaissance on the ITF tour this year, reaching four finals, and winning three of them, among which was a hard court event in Estonia.
However, she had not won on the main tour this year before her first round match with Nao Hibino of Japan.
Setting that aside, she was able to ease past the world number 125 in straight sets.
Although both players have known better times in the past, Martincova has been nearer the top more recently, and she can consider herself favourite for this contest.
Martincova v Wickmayer Tip:
Martincova to win: 5/7
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Lucrezia Stefanini v Jodie Burrage Preview
Head-to-Head: The pair have never played each other before.
Stefanini’s successes have been confined to the ITF tour, where has won 7 titles, and appeared in five more finals, on a mixture of clay and hard courts.
She did, though, make her Grand Slam debut in Melbourne this year, where she reached the second round.
That had been the last time she had won a senior WTA match this year, but she improved on that by beating the Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova in the first round, cruising through the opening set and then getting the upper hand in a tie-break in the second.
Burrage has already managed several firsts this summer. She made her first WTA final in Nottingham, before losing to Katie Boulter, her compatriot, and won her first ever match at Wimbledon.
She has also been informed she has been entered direct into the main draw of the US Open without having to qualify.
To that list she can now add making the second round in Warsaw, but she was pushed all the way by Ankita Raina of India, the world number 202, who won the first set of their contest, and then took the British player to a third set tie-break before finally succumbing.
There appears little to separate these two players, but Stefanini’s greater experience may just give her the edge.
Stefanini v Burrage Tip:
Stefanini to win: 6/7
Lin Zhu v Laura Siegemund Preview
Head-to-Head: The pair have never played each other before. This will be the first match between the 29 year old Chinese, and the German, who is six years older.
Zhu won her first senior career singles title on the hard courts of Hua-Hin in February, where she also finished runners-up in the doubles.
That came just a few weeks after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, her best result to date in a Grand Slam.
She would go on to reach the semi-finals in Monterrey, but as the tour moved on to clay and grass, the Chinese player began to struggle, with a semi-final appearance in Birmingham a rare shining light in that run.
In her first round in Warsaw she faced a familiar foe in the shape of compatriot Xiyu Wang, whom she beat in straight sets.
Siegemund is approaching the veteran stage of a career that has seen her best results come in doubles, having won two Grand Slam titles.
She has won two singles titles, both on clay, but the most recent of those wins was six years ago in Stuttgart.
The German won her first main tour match in three months to set up her meeting with Zhu, although the draw was kind to her pitting her against the Pole Maja Chwalinska. She beat the world number 359 comfortably in straight sets.
If Zhu can find the same hard court from she displayed earlier in the year, she should win this match without being troubled.
Zhu v Siegemund Tip
Zhu to win: 4/7
The 2023 Poland Open will be played from July 24 to 30. Get our ultimate guide on tennis betting and predictions here.
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