Damien Kayat previews the Ostrava Open round of 16 ties between Paula Badosa Gibert and Anett Kontaveit as well as Petra Kvitova and Anatasia Potapova.
2021 WTA Tour
WTA Premier
Ostrava Open
Ostarvar Arena, Czech Republic
Selected Round of 16 Matches- 22nd September
Paula Badosa Gibert 23/20 | Anett Kontaveit 66/100
Now that’s the way to start a tournament. World Number 27 Paula Badosa Gibert put on a masterclass against Russian lucky loser Varvara Gracheva. In the process, she exacted revenge on the woman who has knocked her out of the US Open for the last two consecutive years. She needed only 73 minutes to persevere and never faced a break point. She won a whopping 77% of her first-serve points. 23-year-old Gibert has compiled a nifty 2021 campaign for herself. Obviously, her most glaring accomplishments came in a glittering clay-court season. She won 85% of her matches on clay this year. This included back-to-back semi-finals in Charleston and Madrid. She then won her maiden WTA title in Serbia before a quarterfinal run in France. But she hasn’t been a shrinking violet on the other surfaces. Unlike many of the other clay-court specialists, Gibert is blessed with a formidable serve. This helped her reach the 4th round at Wimbledon and quarterfinals in Cincinnati. Look for her to be the aggressor against the equally positive Anett Kontaveit.
Anett Kontaveit has managed to navigate the waters of a turbulent 2021 campaign pretty well. She split with long-time coach Nigel Sears earlier this year and started a coaching trial with former player Dmitry Tursunov. But her all-court season has remained pretty solid. She ended up sharing the Grampians Trophy earlier in the season due to Covid delays. She then managed a solid 3rd round run in Melbourne. She followed that up with a decent quarterfinal run in Doha (she beat former World Number One Angelique Kerber in the process). This run of solid- if unspectacular- tennis carried on until an exceptional run to the final in Eastbourne. One thing that I have noticed about the former China Open finalist is her all-court dexterity. She would then go on to win her 2nd WTA title and first on hardcourts, beating the unfancied Irina-Carmelia Begu in straight sets in the Cleveland final. She is fresh off a routine demolition of one of her favourite foes: Sorana Cirstea. She improved to 5-0 against the unfortunate Romanian.
Verdict: Gibert at 23/20
This will be the first meeting between these two. This is quite a tough one to call. Kontaveit is probably the more accomplished hardcourt player. Both of these players looked extremely formidable in their opening matches. I’m actually leaning slightly in the direction of Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert. I think that she could win her service games more efficiently off the back of her powerful serve.
Petra Kvitova 2/11 | Anastasia Potapova 36/10
It’s been a tough year for two-time Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova. She won the Qatar Open in March but has only managed to reach one semi-final since. Inconsistency and a host of minor injuries have scuppered the big-serving Czech. She actually just withdrew from the rebranded Fed Cup scheduled for early November, citing the physical strain on her body. It couldn’t have been an easy decision as Kvitova has played an integral role in the Czech Republic’s recent dominance of the Fed Cup. Furthermore, the Billie Jean Cup will now be played in Prague later this year. I’m sure she would have ideally liked to cap her season with a strong team showing at home. But at least she gets to play on front of her home support this week. She showed some slight improvement in the last few weeks, reaching the quarterfinals in Cincinnati before a 3rd round run in New York. One thing that has abandoned her somewhat is her serve. Kvitova always played her best tennis when her service rhythm is smooth. Clearly injuries have broken down that rhythm to a large extent.
20-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova has been in pretty dreadful form of late. She hasn’t quite developed in the way that I had envisaged three years back. She really burst onto the scene has an exciting 17-year-old talent in 2018, reaching the finals in Moscow and Tashkent. But things have deteriorated over the course of the last two seasons. She ended 2020 ranked as the number 100 player in the world. This season has proved a real grind for the baselining Russian. Having said that, she has picked up three pretty impressive victories just this week. She came back from a set down in what must have been a real baseline slugfest against Stefanie Vogele. She was then winning easily against Alexandrova before she was forced to retire. And now she is fresh off a straight-sets victory against former top 10 player Caroline Garcia.
Kvitova at 2/11
This will be the first-ever meeting between Kvitova and Potapova. I think that the Russian will provide a stern test for Kvitova. Potapova’s game is based on movement and crushing rallies. She could capitalize on the current physical issues that Kvitova is facing. But ultimately, I think that Kvitova should prevail in front of her home support. Fot a bit more value, Kvitova to win in three could be worth a gander at 31/10.
