Shuai Zhang vs Paolini Tennis Prediction
Two months ago, the pair met on the hard-courts of Acapulco for a first-round clash. The Chinese prevailed over Paolini 6-3 6-1, concluding the match in just 54 minutes. On Thursday as well, Zhang will be a favorite going into this quarterfinal, but it’s certainly a different match-up than the Acapulco one.
Shuai Zhang News
Shuai Zhang stops the run of Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse (6-4 6-4) to move into the third International quarterfinal of her season. It was Zhang’s tenth win of the year from 11 tournaments, out of which eight are against players ranked outside top 100.
Zhang arrived at Prague having won just one match out of her previous two J&T Banka Prague Open appearances, second round in 2015 (def. to Kuznetsova, l. to Kovinic) and a first-round exit last year (l. to eventual champion Mona Barthel).
It hasn’t been a great season for the Chinese #1, who has won just two matches in Premier or higher level of tournaments. However, this is not unlike her 2017 season start, when she went 10/16 in the first six months and still finished the year at #36.
The results that keep Zhang at #31 came in the later months of 2017. In September, she won Guangzhou as her second WTA title (def. Krunic, also won it in 2013) and in November, she won ten matches in a row to win $100k Tokyo and $125k Honolulu.
Jasmine Paolini News
Jasmine Paolini advances into her first-ever WTA quarterfinal after defeating the new Bogota champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets for the third time since the start of this year.
The 22-year-old Italian, who won her career’s first WTA main draw match at Bogota last month (def. Lizette Cabrera), made her Prague main draw debut (lost in the qualifying stages last year) after receiving a lucky loser entry.
In the first round, she was tasked to take on the world #15 Daria Kasatkina, the highest-ranked opponent she had ever faced. Suffering from a left thigh injury, the Russian #1 was upset by #144 Paolini in straight sets (7-6 6-3).
Last year, Paolini debuted into the top 200 and reached as high as #130, powered by a $100k title at Marseille (clay, def. Tatjana Maria) and a $25k at Woking (hard, def. Buzarnescu).
Tennis Prediction: Shuai Zhang
Odds: 1.60
