Petra Kvitova vs Mihaela Buzarnescu Tennis Prediction
Since this event’s promotion from an ITF $100k to a WTA International in 2015, two Czechs have won this trophy, Lucie Safarova, and Karolina Pliskova, with Buzarnescu being the only Romanian to have reached the finals. Kvitova is considered the clear favorite to quell the resistance from a fellow left-handed player, against whom she has a 43-16 record.
Petra Kvitova News
Petra Kvitova overcame the toughest challenge of the week when she met Shuai Zhang in the semifinal of J&T Banka Prague Open. Kvitova, who earlier defeated Siniakova and Vikhlyantseva with ease, was two points away from losing a set to Zhang.
Kvitova was nearly punished for not converting one of the two set points at 5-4 in the first set, as Zhang forced a tiebreaker and ran off to a 5-1 lead. However, once she miraculously won the first set, it was a breeze from thereon, winning the match 7-6(6) 6-0.
The Czech began the clay season with first rounds exits at Charleston (Kr. Pliskova) and Stuttgart (Kerber). She has compensated for that by blowing away her opponents this week, including Vikhlyantseva and Siniakova, in a bid to win her first WTA title at home.
Before she made her comeback at the 2017 French Open, the two-time slam champion’s career was under serious doubt (knife attack). A year since the current world #10 has banished all doubts by lifting a Premier 5 (Doha) and two Premier (St. Petersburg and Birmingham) titles.
Kvitova is seeking her first clay title since claiming her second Mutua Madrid Open title in 2015 (first in 2011). The Czech is also looking for her first International-level title since the 2011 Linz, the year of her top 20 debut and first Wimbledon title.
Mihaela Buzarnescu News
Mihaela Buzarnescu had to grind hard to finish a comeback win over Camila Giorgi (4-6 6-3 7-5) in two hours and 24 minutes to gift herself a WTA final of her 30th birthday. It was the Romanian who out-gunned the hard-hitting Italian, with 31 to 19 in winners’ tally.
Buzarnescu arrived at Prague having not won back-to-back matches since Doha, where she recorded her first top 10 win (#6 Ostapenko) and broke into the top 40. She will climb to #32 next week, which makes her the Romanian #2, surpassing Cirstea and Begu.
Buzarnescu’s meteoric rise from #541 in January 2017 to #55 in December was fueled by seven ITF titles, out of which four were on clay. In October, she would win her first WTA main draw match at Linz as well as reach its semifinal (l. eventual champion Strycova).
The rapid rise of the Romanian did not stop this year as she storms into her first WTA final at Hobart, defeating Cornet and Tsurenko (l. to Mertens). After starting the clay season with losses to Errani and Sabalenka, Buzarnescu is a win away from her first title.
Tennis Prediction: Petra Kvitova 2-0 SET
Odds: 1.70
