The 2019 Linz Open will begin from Monday, October 7 and few of the players in action include Andrea Petkovic? Here’s Andrea Petkovic v Jil Teichmann & Anna Blinkova v Kateryna Kozlova tips, previews and predictions for these third round matches.
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Viktoria Kuzmova v Julia Grabher Predictions & Preview
It’s interesting to see that Viktoria Kuzmova and Julia Grabher, who will be meeting in the first round of the Linz Open on Monday, have faced off three times before this. Kuzmova leads 2-1 on head to head but all of those matches came at the ITF level between 2014 and 2016. This will be the first time they will be facing each other in a WTA tournament.
Kuzmova has jumped up the rankings charts in the past few months thanks to her solid showing last year at the lower level but what’s interesting to note is that she has barely played too many matches on hard courts in the second half of the season. An opening round defeat at Cincinnati was followed by another couple at New York Open and the US Open before she played just one more tournament. In that, at Tashkent, Kuzmova made it to the quarter-final before losing to Kristyna Pliskova.
23-year-old Grabher is a relatively unknown player on the circuit with a career-best ranking of 198th in the world but she has done remarkably well at the ITF circuit. An overall record of 40-21 on win-loss this year obviously speaks volumes of her play but dig a little deeper and just one of those matches came on hard courts.
Expect not just a straight-set win for Kuzmova but for her to not drop too many games either.
Tip: Under 17.5 games in the match: 7/4 with Unibet
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Andrea Petkovic v Jil Teichmann Predictions & Preview
When Andrea Petkovic takes on Jil Teichmann it would be their second meeting at the WTA level but also, a second match this year itself. They last played as recently as the previous week in Beijing an Petkovic ran away a 7-6, 6-3 winner in the first round match.
Petkovic, once ranked ninth in the world, has fallen off the cliff a bit with a ranking of 82nd at this stage but she would be feeling pretty confident of her own self after what transpired last week. She won two qualifiers and then defeated Teichmann to make it to the second round where she lost to the eventual champion Naomi Osaka. Earlier there was a third round appearance at the US Open too.
On the other hand, Teichmann’s record doesn’t suggest she has the game to challenge Petkovic. With just four of the 14 matches won on hard court surfaces this year of which three came in the qualifiers of the New York Open. Tough to see her get past Petkovic in this one after that kind of a record.
Tip: Petkovic to win: 7/15 with Unibet
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Anna Blinkova v Kateryna Kozlova Predictions & Preview
In what will be their first meeting, the 65th-ranked Anna Blinkova will be up against Kateryna Kozlova for a place in the second round in Linz. And it’s been a year to remember for her, having risen to her career-best ranking too, after winning her first ever WTA title. That came at the New Haven Open last month, following on from her showing at the New York Open where she needed to win three matches to qualify and then a further couple more to make the quarter-finals.
Kozlova, on the other hand, has had a 13-16 win-loss record this year on hard court with her third round presence at the Indian Wells Open being her strongest showing. In the only indoor competition she played in Budapest, Kozlova managed to win her first two round matches before losing in the quarter-final.
However, given Blinkova’s career indoor court showing, she will be a favourite to win this one too with an offer of 10/21 for that to happen.
Tip: Blinkova to win: 10/21 with Unibet
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