Elina Svitolina faces Ons Jabeur while Marketa Vondrousova faces Danielle Collins in the quarter-finals of the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic. Damien Kayat previews.
2021 WTA Tour 2021
WTA 500
Chicago Fall Tennis Classic
Chicago, USA, Hardcourt
Selected Quarterfinals- 1st October
Elina Svitolina 76/100 | Ons Jabeur 1/1
Elina Svitolina is fast becoming the ‘Queen of Chicago’. She won the WTA 250 edition of this tournament about a month ago. She also seems to have successfully transferred that form into this event. She crushed Amanda Anisimova in the first round before yet another comfortable victory against Rus. This takes her recent Chicago record to 7-0. She actually used that 250 title as a springboard to an excellent quarterfinal run at Flushing Meadows. That gives her a 11-1 record in her last three events. The Olympic Bronze Medallist has enjoyed an extremely solid campaign despite only winning one title. She has reached semi-finals at events as varied as the Qatar Open, Stuttgart Open and Miami Open. She is a relentless competitor who seems to be finding a greater degree of consistency of late. However, she still lacks that necessary killer instinct to win on the Grand Slam stage. But as an accomplished winner of 16 WTA titles, Svitolina certainly has what it takes to dominate these events.
27-year-old Ons Jabeur is on a significant mission in these closing salvos of the season: to become the first Arab woman to reach the WTA finals. The number six seed has reached two WTA Finals this season, going all the way at Birmingham and becoming the first Arab woman to win a WTA title. She was also 11-4 in the Grand Slams this season, picking up her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon. All in all, this has been a wonderful campaign for the Tunisian. This week has looked no different. She needed little time in dispatching of Su-Wei Hsieh in the opening round (she needed just 45 minutes to win 6-1, 6-0). She then overcame the rapidly improving Jessica Pegula in a tight three-set affair. That took her 2021 record to 42-16. Jabeur will look to put the ultra-orthodox Svitolina in uncomfortable positions with her vast array of drop shots and awkward angles.
Verdict: Jabuer to win at 1/1
Elina Svitolina has dominated this rivalry, leading the Tunisian 3-0 in their head-to-head meetings. But they haven’t met since Jabeur was forced to withdraw during their 2019 Dubai encounter. The Tunisian has evolved into a far more complete player since then. I think she will draw on the carrot of the WTA finals as a massive motivator this week.
Marketa Vondrousova 76/100 | Danielle Collins 1/1
I knew that Czech star Marketa Vondrousova was going to have a solid showing this week. The enigmatic 22-year-old was in pretty ordinary form leading into the Olympics. But an amazing Silver Medal run showcased her innate ability to pull amazing results out of nowhere. Lest we forget, Vondrousova was the 2019 French Open runner-up. The Olympic performance seems to have given her some added confidence and she has shown far greater consistency in recent weeks. She reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 version of this event a month ago. She would then go on to reach the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Open. This week she has looked serene, overcoming a tricky draw and seeing off the dangerous trio of Tomljanovic, Pavlyuchenkova and Teichmann without dropping a set. She looks seriously dangerous this week and will take some beating.
Danielle Collins went for broke and absolutely destroyed Elise Mertens in her last match. Collins broke Mertens seven times and ultimately won 6-2, 6-4, advancing to her 8th WTA quarterfinal of the season. Her aggression was something to behold (she won an incredible 16 of 22 points of Mertens’ 2nd serve). Collins will have relished a comfortable outing after a decidedly sticky round of 32 encounter against Misaki Doi. Collins has been slightly subdued since her tremendous back-to-back tournament victories in Palermo and San Jose. You can’t help by admire the manner in which she fought back from her endometriosis diagnosis this year. Collins is an arch competitor who can beat anyone in world tennis when in peak physical condition.
Verdict: Collins to win at 1/1
This will be the first meeting between Collins and lefty Vondrousova. Collins will obviously draw on the majority of the support this week. Her story has been inspirational and she has endeared herself to the tennis world. Vondrousova is a consummate fighter who will need to absorb all of Collins’ power. I think Collins to win in three at 39/10 is a good bet. She may find Vondrousova’s style tricky to unpack. But ultimately, I feel that Collins’ power will come through in the end.
