Some of the first round action at the 2023 WTA Italian Open will see Claire Liu take on Camilla Rosatello and Julia Grabher v Nuria Brancaccio. Get the latest odds and predictions, preview and head to head for these matches along with Diletta Cherubini v Lisa Pigato and Xiyu Wang v Lucrezia Stefanini.
Claire Liu v Camilla Rosatello Preview
Head to Head: They have never played at the highest level but Liu defeated her on clay on the ITF circuit in 2017.
Liu has been in a shocker of form, having lost four matches in a row coming into the Italian Open which includes three successive defeats on clay. Overall, Liu has won just five matches this season and none on clay.
While the good news for Liu is that she will be playing against the 296th-ranked Rosatello, it must be quickly added her opponent is a local and loves her time on clay.
Both of Rosatello’s lower-level competitive titles have come in clay court competitions too and it could point to another difficult round for Liu despite what the bookmakers might have to say.
Liu v Rosatello Tip
Three sets in the match: 6/4
Julia Grabher v Nuria Brancaccio Preview
Head to Head: These two have faced off once before and it came on the WTA 125 circuit at Bari. Grabher routed Brancaccio in the final of that event 6-4, 6-2.
Grabher has shown solidity on clay, especially while not facing the top-20 of the world this season. This can be seen from her run to the third round at the Charleston Open where she overcame Shuai Zhang and Sachia Vickery.
As a lucky lower, Grabher also made the second round of the Madrid Open with a win over Viktoriya Tomova but Lauren Davis knocked her out of the first round at Reus last week.
She will have the advantage of facing the 178th-ranked and local player Brancaccio whom she played only last year in a WTA 125 competition.
Brancaccio will be making her top WTA debut here at home in Rome now and it remains to be seen if there has been any improvement in her paly since.
Grabher v Brancaccio Tip
Grabher to win in straight sets: 11/10
Diletta Cherubini v Lisa Pigato Preview
Head to Head: This will be the first meeting between Cherubini and Pigato, the two Italian wildcard entrants.
This is a match between two players ranked outside the top 400, both of whom started their careers in 2018.
The difference comes in the form of, um, their form!
Cherubini has struggled through most part of the season with just two main draw wins on the ITF circuit, while Pigato has already reached the quarterfinal stage of one ITF event on clay and followed it up with a second round appearance of the next one.
Pigato also has three ITF titles to her name, all of which have come on clay. She holds the aces in this one.
Cherubini v Pigato Tip
Cherubini to win: 1/3
Xiyu Wang v Lucrezia Stefanini Preview
Head to Head: They have faced off once on the ITF circuit last year and it was Wang who had won that clay court competition match.
Wang enters this competition on the back of a third round appearance at the Madrid Open where she defeated Varvara Gracheva and Bianca Andreescu. She then lost to Barbora Krejcikova but not before she had notched up her best showing of the season.
Having kick-started the season with three successive defeats, Wang had then gone on to win just three of her next eight matches. Which means her performance at Madrid would have been bit of a relief-inducing.
Stefanini has played a lot of her tennis on clay but comes to Rome having featured in only one match on that surface this season.
That came in Saint-Malo last week on the WTA 125 circuit where she was knocked out in the very first round despite starting out a 1/5 favourite against Amandine Hesse. Won’t be easy for her here.
Wang v Stefanini Tip
Wang to win: 1/2
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The 2023 Munich Open will be played from April 17-23. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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