Danka Kovinic vs Anna Bondar
Seventh seed Danka Kovinic takes on Anna Bondar in the second round of the Lyon Open after both players carved out straight-sets wins on Monday.
World No.67 Kovinic chalked up a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 victory over Viktorija Golubic in the opening round. The 28-year-old Montenegrin has enjoyed a promising start to 2023, reaching the ASB Classic semi-finals in Auckland before going down to Coco Gauff.
Kovinic raced to a one-set lead in her Australian Open first-round clash against Lauren Davis but faded to lose 1-6 7-5 6-1. A clay specialist, she made the third round at the Australian Open and French Open in 2022.
Bondar, ranked 72nd, held off Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-4 6-4 in her opening assignment, holding serve throughout.
The late-blooming Hungarian is also coming off her first match win at a grand slam; in just her fifth major, 25-year-old Bondar beat Ana Bogdan in three sets at the Australian Open before taking former champ Jelena Ostapenko to three sets in the second round.
Bondar briefly nudged into the top 50 last year after reaching the Budapest Grand Prix semis.
Kovinic, the more experienced player with a better run of consistent form behind her, heads in as a $1.62 favourite and is likely to book a quarter-final berth – but Bondar is no slouch and this shapes as a lengthy contest.
Alycia Parks vs Petra Martic
Fourth seed Petra Martic has her work cut out in the second round of the Lyon Open against rising American Alycia Parks. Parks accounted for Julia Grabher in three sets in the opening round, while Martic came from a set down to beat former top-10 player Kristina Mladenovic.
Parks made her WTA debut in 2021 and created headlines in her first grand slam, tying Venus Williams’ US Open record for the fastest serve recorded by a woman. While she’s yet to make to another main draw at a slam, she is inside the top 80 thanks to strong results on the ITF and Challenger circuits.
The 22-year-old took out the Andorra Open and Open Angers back-to-back in December. Two months earlier, she knocked over Karolina Pliskova and Maria Sakkari at the Ostrava Open. It was disappointing then that she lost in Australian Open qualifying as the top seed.
World No.36 Martic kicked off her 2023 campaign representing Croatia at the United Cup, beating Nadia Podoroska but going down to Caroline Garcia and Sakkari. She beat Viktorija Golubic first up at the Australian Open before crashing out convincingly at the hands of Shuai Zhang.
The 32-year-old’s best results have come on clay – she was a French Open quarter-finalist in 2019 and won the Lausanne Open last year – but she is an accomplished hard-court player, reaching the US Open fourth round in 2019-20.
Parks opened as the narrowest of favourites for this match but Martic has firmed to $1.75 to move into the quarters. The Atlanta native has shown she is capable of beating the WTA’s big guns and is a real chance of tipping up veteran Martic here.
Kinda Fruhvirtova vs Tamara Zidansek
Eighth seed Linda Fruhvirtova and Tamara Zidansek both breezed into the Round of 16 at the Thailand Open with dominant first-up wins, setting up an intriguing showdown.
At just 17 years of age, world No.51 Fruhvirtova has the tennis world at her feet. She’s already entering her fourth season on the WTA Tour and won her first title in September at the Chennai Open, beating three of the top five seeds.
The Czech phenom lost a three-setter to Emma Raducanu in the first round in Auckland last month but charged into the fourth round of the Australian Open – just her second slam – before going down to Donna Vekic in three sets.
Fruhvirtova’s fine start to 2023 continued with a 6-3 6-1 demolition of Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round in Hua Hin.
World No.132 Zidansek overwhelmed Aussie Astra Sharma 6-2 6-3 by winning 79 percent of her first-serve points. It was the 25-year-old Slovenian’s first main draw win of 2023 but had the misfortune of encountering world No.2 Ons Jabeur first up at the Australian Open – and took her to three sets.
Zidansek, a French Open semi-finalist in 2021, is looking to regain the form that propelled her into the top 25 this time last year. At her best, Zidansek is a formidable baseliner with a tremendous forehand. We just haven’t seen it on a regular basis over the past 12 months.
Fruhvirtova is still green but her outstanding recent form sees her go into this clash as a hot $1.40 favourite.
Anna Kalinskaya vs Lesia Tsurenko
Fourth seed Anna Kalinskaya locks horns with Ukrainian tour stalwart Lesia Tsurenko in the second round in Hua Hin.
World No.53 Kalinskaya wiped the floor with Ekaterina Makarova in the first round 6-1 6-1, winning every receiving game.
It continues a reasonable start to 2023 for the Russian 24-year-old, who upset Jelena Ostapenko at the Adeliade International 2 before pushing 2022 runner-up Danielle Collins to the brink in a 7-5 5-7 6-4 Australian Open first-round defeat.
Kalinskaya claimed a host of big scalps in the second half of 2022, rolling Simona Halep at the Citi Open and beating Barbora Krejcikova, Elise Mertens and Daria Kasatkina on her way to the Gaudalajara Open quarters.
World No.136 Tsurenko scored a seesawing 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory over Ysaline Bonaventure in the Thailand Open’s first round.
The 33-year-old reached the semis of an ITF event in Canberra in early-January and won three qualifying matches to get into the Australian Open main draw but was beaten easily by Karolina Muchova.
Tsurenko was in the top 25 as recently as 2019 and made the US Open quarter-finals the previous year before her form fell away.
Kalinskaya will be eager to turn her massive talent into WTA titles in 2023 and this tournament provides a gilt-edged opportunity. She shouldn’t have too many problems navigating past Tsurenko.
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