Liudmila Samsonova recently blew Tatjana Maria off the court in Tokyo, now she gets to play her again at the WTA Zhengzhou Open (and has been in great form since, making the Beijing final). Also among the players competing on Tuesday is the eighth seed Daria Kasatkina, taking on Elisabetta Cocciaretto. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our prediction for every match on the slate, including Veronika Kudermetova vs Vera Zvonerava, but who will come out on top?
WTA Zhengzhou Day 2 Predictions
Zhu Lin vs Laura Siegemund
Head-to-head: Siegemund 1-0 Zhu
Zhu Lin recently made the final of the Asian Games, losing to top-seeded Qinwen Zheng. She wasn’t able to use that momentum in Beijing though, being forced to retire after nine lost games to Lesia Tsurenko. We’ll see if the Chinese will be better here, but Laura Siegemund is actually an underrated singles player these days. She’s already defeated Zhu this year and might have a nice shot of doing that again. She still has the quality and the grit.
Prediction: Siegemund in 3
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Tatjana Maria vs Liudmila Samsonova
Head-to-head: Samsonova 2-0 Maria
Liudmila Samsonova is coming off a brilliant performance in Beijing, although she likely won’t be too satisfied with her final showing where she couldn’t provide a challenge to Iga Swiatek. Going deep in back-to-back weeks can be tough, but at least in theory she has a favorable matchup here. Tatjana Maria’s style is so unique that if you’re good at hitting through her slice-and-dice game, you’re probably gonna stay comfortable against her. This might be their closest match yet though and definitely more competitive than the 6-0 6-2 blowout in Tokyo.
Prediction: Samsonova in 3
Daria Kasatkina vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto
Head-to-head: first meeting
This is pretty high-profile with both players ranked in the top 35 of the WTA Rankings. Daria Kasatkina’s year hasn’t reached the heights of 2022, but she’s still really consistent and hasn’t lost in the opening round of an event since June. Elisabetta Cocciaretto has only played one match since the US Open and will definitely be a bit down on match rhythm. Ultimately she also lacks the explosive potential to hit through Kasatkina.
Prediction: Kasatkina in 2
Main photo credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
