Maria Sakkari vs Polona Hercog Tennis Prediction
This will be pair’s first meeting. Both players, who hit the ball hard and can sustain themselves in long rallies as well, have put forward confident performances this week to arrive at the semifinal stages. Expect this to be a closely fought contest with both players having equal chances of winning it.
Maria Sakkari News
Maria Sakkari advanced to her second career semifinal at Istanbul, defeating the 2016 champion Cagla Buyukakcay, Serbian #1 Aleksandra Krunic and qualifier Arantxa Rus. She is the only semifinalist to have not dropped a set en route to the final four.
In 2016, Sakkari made her first WTA quarterfinal at Istanbul when she debuted at the tournament, ranked #127. She would go on to finish the season inside top 100 for the first time buoyed by two slam second rounds and a couple of ITF runner-up trophies.
Sakkari, who will overtake her mother’s career high rank (#43) next week, debuted into the top 50 after ripping her way into 2017 Wuhan semifinal, dropping just one set and secured her career’s first (and so far only) top 10 win over #6 Wozniacki en route.
Sakkari, the first Greek in an Istanbul semifinal, started the 2018 season with five opening-round losses (Shenzhen to Doha). She got the much-needed boost when she defeated Vekic, Barty, and Vandeweghe to reach the fourth round of Indian Wells last month.
Polona Hercog News
Polona Hercog, whose previous Istanbul appearances ended in first round defeats (2008-09), enters the semifinal stage of the tournament by shocking the former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tight three-setter.
Hercog, also the first from her country (Slovenia) to reach an Istanbul semifinal, defeated Aryna Sabalenka (to whom she lost to at Lugano) and Kateryna Bondarenko (by retirement), earlier in the week.
This is Hercog’s first career semifinal since July 2015, when she lost to A. K. Schmiedlova in the final four of Bucharest. She has reached four WTA finals in her career, latest of which came nearly six years ago at Bastad (def. Mathilde Johansson).
Hercog, the former world #35 (Sept 2011), had to spent nearly ten months off the court from Sept 2016 to May 2017, due to multiple health issues. However, she bounced pretty quickly with six ITF titles and a Wimbledon third round. Next week, she will appear in top 70 for the first time since 2015.
Tennis Prediction: Polona Hercog
Odds: 1.83
