Some of the first round action at the 2023 Prague Open will see top seed Marie Bouzkova take on Jaqueline Cristian and third seed Zhang Shuai play Yue Yuan. Get the latest predictions along with the odds, preview and head to head for these matches along with Wang Xiyu v Clara Tauson and Jule Niemeier v Heather Watson.
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Marie Bouzkova v Jaqueline Cristian Preview
Head-to-Head: Bouzkova leads 3-0 with the most recent of her victory coming in Hobart this year.
Top seed Marie Bouzkova will begin her title defence against Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian. Bouzkova had won the 2022 title by beating Anastasia Potapova in the final.
Ranked no. 29th in the world, Bouzkova has been very inconsistent this season. But the Czech will look to draw inspiration from her last tournament at Wimbledon, where she went on to reach the round of 16 before falling to the eventual champion Marketa Vondrousova.
Bouzkova has not reached a tour level quarterfinal this year but will be hoping to go deep in Prague.
Cristian, too, has struggled at the highest level and brings a 3-7 season record into the tournament. However, the Romanian has done well in lower level tournaments, winning two titles on indoor court and one on clay at the ITF level.
The 25-year-old world no. 125 will be making her first appearance in Prague, but has little chance of advancing to the next round.
Marie Bouzkova v Jaqueline Cristian Tip
Bouzkova has dominated the rivalry. She is the local favourite, defending champion and the top seed and al these factors make her the favourite in this contest. Bouzkova to win: 1/4
Zhang Shuai v Yue Yuan Preview
Head-to-Head: Zhang won their only meeting at a WTA 125 tournament in 2021.
World on. 45 Zhang Shuai comes into the tournament in terrible form. The 34-year-old Chinese player has lost 14 matches on the trot.
Zhang’s last win came on January 31 in the first round of the Lyon Open. Since then, the three-time tour-level champion has just not been able to win matches. In fact Lyon and the Australian Open are the only two tournaments, where Zhang has won matches this year. She had made it to the fourth round in the first major.
Zhang was a semifinalist in Prague in 2018. Can she end her losing streak and begin with a win?
Taking on Zhang is compatriot Yue Yuan, who is 0-4 at the tour level this season, but has played a lot of lower level and qualifying tournaments, thanks to which her overall season record is 20-17 across levels.
Most recently the 24-year-old lost in the opening round in Warsaw this week. She will be making her Prague debut this year.
Yue has won an ITF title on hard court this season, can she get her season’s first main draw win of the tour in the first round?
Zhang Shuai v Yue Yuan Tip
Both are struggling at the top level, and both will be desperate to win. This match may go the distance. Three sets in the match: 4/5
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Wang Xiyu v Clara Tauson Preview
Head-to-Head: It will be a first meeting between the two.
World no. 81 Wang Xiyu has struggled to deliver results on hard courts this year and a 3-8 season record is a proof of that.
Overall, the 22-year-old Chinese left-hander is 13-16 across levels in 2023 and is coming off a straight sets defeat to Lin Zhu in the opening round in Warsaw.
She has not reached a quarterfinal this year and her best was a fourth round finish in Rome.
World no. 89 Clara Tauson is 31-13 across levels this year. The Dane, who will be playing in Prague for the first time, was a quarterfinalist in Linz and had made it to the third round of the French Open.
While those two were her most significant performances at the tour level, she reached two finals at the ITF level, winning in Altenkirchen ITF and finishing runner-up in Maribor ITF.
Wang Xiyu v Clara Tauson Tip
Tauson has displayed better form this year and she holds slight edge in this contest. Tauson to win: 4/5
Jule Niemeier v Heather Watson Preview
Head-to-Head: Watson leads 2-1. While they were 1-1 last year, Watson beat Niemeier in this year’s meeting in Nottingham
Jule Niemeier has had a terrible run on hard courts this year, having played eight and lost all of them. Ranked no. 106, the 23-year-old German is 13-21 across levels, but will be concerned about how she has performed on hard courts.
Niemeier is coming of a good showing in Hamburg though, having reached the quarterfinal of the tournament, but that was on clay and now she will have to transition to hard court, where she has found the going tough this year.
Taking on Niemeier is Heather Watson. The world no. 146 had a good run in Warsaw this week, reaching the last eight in Warsaw.
She was also a quarterfinalist earlier this year and made it to the round of 16 in Austin. So, overall, she has done well on hard courts and a 13-7 season record across level testifies that.
Watson has also featured in an ITF final on hard and another on indoor hard court.
Jule Niemeier v Heather Watson Tip
Watson holds the edge on hard court. The Briton to win: 1/4
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The 2023 Prague Open will be played from July 31 to August 6. Get our ultimate guide on tennis betting and predictions here.
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