Some of the second round action at the 2023 Prague Open will see Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, the world number 122, take on Emiliana Arango of Colombia, the world number 181, and Kateryna Baindl of the Ukraine, the world number 98, play Jule Niemeier of Germany, the world number 101. Get the latest predictions along with the odds, preview and head to head for these matches along with Yue Yuan v Tereza Martincova and Yanina Wickmayer v Tamara Korpatsch.
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Jaqueline Cristian v Emiliana Arango Preview
Head-to-Head:
They have met once before and that was on clay in Zagreb three months ago, Cristian winning in straight sets.
Preview:
Cristian caused a major upset in Prague by knocking out the top seed, and world number 35, Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.
She began strongly breaking Bouzkova twice in the opening games of the match. Bouzkova recovered one of them, but soon found herself two breaks down again. Although she clawed one of them back, the first set was beyond her.
In the second set, a run of six games in seven went against serve, but, with Cristian serving to stay in the set, Bouzkova found the will to break her and level the match.
When the Romanian went a break down in the third set, it seemed that the top seed had redeemed herself. But two successive breaks swung the match decisively in Cristian’s favour, much to the disappointment of the Prague crowd.
Arango had been made to work for her place in the main draw in Prague, taken to three sets in both rounds of qualifying.
However, she found things considerably easier against the Czech teenage wildcard Barbora Palicova, the world number 215.
After the pair swapped breaks early, Arango took control of the first set with another break, and although Palicova saved five set points on her own serve, the Colombian got the job done in the next game.
The first three games of the second set went against serve, by the end of which sequence Arango was a break up. Another break helped her ease to victory.
Although Cristian’s victory over Bouzkova was littered with mistakes and unforced errors, it will still boost her confidence, and, having beaten Arango in their only previous meeting, she will start the favourite.
Cristian v Arango Tip: Cristian to win: 4/5
Kateryna Baindl v Jule Niemeier Preview
Head-to-Head:
They have never played each other before. This will be the first match between the Ukaranian, who is 29 years old, and her German opponent, six years younger.
Preview:
Baindl reached the final in Budapest before losing to Maria Timofeeva, but that was on clay, her favourite surface. She had not won on a hard court since she was knocked out of the Australian Open in January.
Facing fellow Ukrainian, the qualifier, Dayana Yastremska, she has now improved on that record, but it was by no means straightforward.
She took the first set by dint of the fact that she dropped her serve less often then her opponent, but then allowed Yastremska back into the match in the second set, dropping her own serve three times.
However, she managed to reassert control in the third set, and won the last four games to book her place in the second round.
Niemeier is starting to find some form at last after a very poor start to the season, which had seen her lose 11 out of her first 13 matches on tour.
Last week in Poland she reached her first quarter-final since last October, and, in her first round match with Heather Watson of Great Britain, she picked up where she had left off in Warsaw.
The German was dominant on serve, winning 90% of points on her first serve, and two breaks earned her the first set.
Niemeier broke early in the second set, before Watson briefly fought back with a break of her own. But the German would not be denied, broke again, and then served out.
Despite being the lower ranked player, the surface would appear to favour the German, especially as she appears to have belatedly found some form this season.
Baindl v Niemeier Tip: Niemeier to win: 8/13
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Yue Yuan v Tereza Martincova Preview
Head-to-Head:
They have never played each other before. This will be the first match between the 24 year old Chinese woman, and the Czech, four years her senior.
Preview:
Yuan had made personal history by reaching the third round of the US Open last year as a qualifier, and now she has another moment to celebrate after beating countrywoman, and the number three seed, Shuai Zhang, in their first round match.
She made a repaid start and soon found herself two breaks to the good. The world number 45 got one of them back, but Yuan broke her again for good measure to wrap up the first set.
And then, after three of the first four games of the second serve went against serve, she found herself a break to the good again. Not in the mood to give Zhang any second chances, she broke her once more before serving out.
Martincova reached the final in Pague last year, but she had not been in good form recently, and she made very hard work of defeating compatriot, Gabriela Knutson, the world number 240, who was making her main tour debut in their first round match.
In fact, it was Knutson who had much the better of things in the first set, two breaks enough to earn her it.
When Martincova twice found herself a break down in the second set, the writing seemed on the wall for her. But she used all her experience to claw herself back into the match, and then broke the Knutson serve to take it into a deciding set.
Again, she made it difficult for herself by going a break down, before finding her inner resolve and won four games on the spin to claim a victory she had hardly deserved.
Martincova has the advantage of playing in home conditions in a tournament she knows well, so will start the favourite. But she will have to play considerably better than she did against Knutson.
Yuan v Martincova Tip: Martincova to win: 8/13
Yanina Wickmayer v Tamara Korpatsch Preview
Head-to-Head:
They have met twice before, both matches taking place in 2017. Wickmayer won on clay in Slovakia, and on hard courts in France.
Preview:
At the age of 33, Wickmayer has enjoyed something of a career renaissance this season, and she reached the semi-finals in Poland last week, before losing to the world number one Iga Swiatek. She also won the doubles with partner Heather Watson.
And she continued that form by knocking out the number two seed, Lin Zhu of China, in the first round in Prague.
That had seemed unlikely, though, after Zhu breezed through the first set for the loss of just one game.
Wickmayer steadied herself, though, and, after the pair swapped breaks twice in the second set, broke the Chinese woman again to level things up.
And then she took a firm grip on the match by racing into a four love lead in the third set. The result was a foregone conclusion after that.
Korpatsch won her first WTA 125k tournament last year in Hungary, but the German had been struggling for form recently, so would have been glad to reach the second round in Prague without major alarms.
Playing Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria, the world number 103, Korpatsch actually began poorly, dropping her serve. But then she hit back with three breaks of her own to claim the first set.
And the match seemed as good as won when she found herself two breaks up and serving for the match in the second set. Tomova, then mounted a spirited comeback, saving two match points and getting both the breaks back. But she undid all her hard work by dropping her serve again, handing the match to Korpatsch.
Wickmayer is in the middle of a good run of form right now, and having beaten Korpatsch in both of their previous two matches, will consider herself the favourite to do so again.
Wickmayer v Korpatsch Tip: Wickmayer to win: 4/9
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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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