Danka Kovinic vs Arantxa Rus Tennis Prediction
These two players met once at Florianopolis in 2014 when Kovinic prevailed that hard-court qualifying round encounter, despite going a set down. There isn’t much between them, and expect the world #121 and #123 to play out a close match.
Danka Kovinic News
Danka Kovinic becomes the latest Istanbul finalist to remain in the draw after the first round exit of former champion Cagla Buyukakcay, to whom Kovinic lost the final of 2016 edition. It was her second WTA final (after 2015 Tianjin), but first on clay.
Kovinic, making her fourth appearance at Istanbul, had to play the qualifying rounds for the first time. After defeating two much lower-ranked players, #335 Birrell and #199 Schoofs, she sailed past the Russian teenager Kalinskaya 6-3 6-3 in the first round.
The Montenegrin is now one win away from reaching her first WTA quarterfinal since October 2016, when she reached the semifinals of Tianjin Open by defeating the newly-crowned Olympic champion, Monica Puig.
Arantxa Rus News
Qualifier Arantxa Rus, making her second Istanbul appearance (2009), secured her second tour-level main draw win of the season by dispatching the Chinese #1 Shuai Zhang in comprehensive straight sets (6-2 6-3).
This win over the world #30 was not only the Dutch’s first top 100 win since defeating #81 Christina McHale at Seoul last September but also her best win-by-ranking since knocking out #5 Stosur at 2012 Wimbledon.
Rus was last ranked inside the top 100 in May 2013. Since then, the best year-end rank she posted was in 2017 (#160). After winning one title (Middelburg, Netherlands) and two runner-ups finishes on the ITF circuit in the last twelve months, she is currently positioned at #123.
Tennis Prediction: Arantxa Rus
Odds: 1.71
