Damien Kayat previews the Rsmalen Grass Court Championships taking place between 11 June and 17 June at Autotron Park.
The Rosmalen event runs concurrently with the Nottingham grass-court event, marking the beginning the of the women’s grass-court season. Also known as the Libema Open- for sponsorship reasons- this will be the 29th edition of this grass-court event, which also has a men’s draw. The event will be hosted at the Autotron Park in Rosmalen and has actually managed to draw a fairly competitive field in the wake of the Grand Slam in Paris.
Anett Kontaveit is back to defend her title while two-time champion Coco Vadeweghe brings a touch of glamour to proceedings. Kiki Bertens and Elise Mertens have both in tremendous form of late while former finalists Belinda Bencic, Kirsten Flipkens and Natalia Vikhlyantseva are in attendance.
Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | 11 June – 17 June | Autotron Park, Rosamalen
Past Winners
2017: Anett Kontaveit beat Natalia Vikhyantseva
2016: Coco Vadeweghe beat Kristina Mlandenovic
2015: Camelia Giorgi beat Belinda Bencic
2014: Coco Vandeweghe beat Zheng Jie
2013: Simona Halep vs Kirsten Flipkens
First Quarter- Projected Quarterfinalists- Coco Vandeweghe, Shuai Zhang
Coco Vandeweghe is a two-time winner and understandably leads the seeds. But the brash American is mercurial at best and doesn’t come in here with tremendous form under her belt. She has a tricky opening match against Aleksandra Sasnovich and has Shuai Zhang in her quarter. Tatjiana Maria could also be a factor in a quarter with many permutations. While Vandeweghe clearly is the big name here, I just have an upset feeling surrounding her in this post-Roland Garros event. In actual fact, I would go as far as to back her first round opponent Sasnovich to come through the section.
Player to progress: Aliakasandra Sasnovich
Second Quarter- Projected Quarterfinalists- Anett Kontaveit, Aleksandra Krunic
I don’t think that you can look too far past Anett Kontaveit in this quarter. She is actually in red-hot form, rising to prominence with that tremendous semi-final run in Rome. She then went on to be eliminated in the Round of 16 by eventual Rolland Garros finalist Sloane Stephens. One potential hiccup form her could be projected second Round opponent Belinda Bencic. The 2015 finalist should represent the biggest threat to Kontaveit’s hegemony of this group. Krunic leads the seeds in the bottom half of the draw but shouldn’t pose a threat to the more fancied Kontaveit or Bencic.
Player to Progress: Anett Kontaveit
Third Quarter- Projected Quarterfinalists- Aryna Sabalenka, Kiki Bertens
The top half of this draw is intriguing and I don’t hold out too much hope for eighth seed Arynba Sabalenka this week. She has a nasty draw with Vondrousova in her first round, followed by either Kristina Pliskova or Tomljanovic. The winner of this group will undoubtedly come from the bottom half of the draw. 2014 Finalist Kirsten Flipkens and Kiki Bertens headline the bottom half of the draw. The Madrid finalist and Charleston Champion Kiki Bertens has got to be my favourite to progress from this quarter. Her athleticism and pure shot-making ability make her one of the best-rounded players on the circuit at present.
Player to Progress: Kiki Bertens
Fourth Quarter- Projected Quarterfinalists- Anita Van Uytvanck, Elise Mertens
Anita Van Uytvanck will have her work cut out for her in her opening encounter against Hogenkamp. Hogenkamp almost upset Mara Sharapova in the opening round in Paris and may be one to watch for an upset special this week. So one could expect a run by Hogenkamp in the top half of this quarter. In reality the one to watch has to be the dynamic Elise Mertens. The semi-finalist from Melbourne should have that touch of class that separates her from her opponents this week. She also has picked up an incredible quarter that perhaps is the weakest of the week.
Player to Progress: Elise Mertens
