Damien Kayat previews the WTA Tour Grass Court Championships Berlin between Karolina Pliskova and Bianca Andreescu as well as Coco Gauff and Ann Li on 15 June 2022.
2022 WTA Tour
WTA 500
Grass Court Championships Berlin
Am Rothenbaum Rot-Weiss Tennis Club, Berlin, Germany (Outdoor Grass)
Selected Round of 16 Matches- 15th June
Karolina Pliskova (4) (5/4) vs Bianca Andreescu (4/7)
This usually the time of the season where Karolina Pliskova comes to life. The Czech star- a former World No.1- has really struggled to recover from an early-season hand injury.
She came into this event with a poor 6-8 record for the year (which included a 2nd round exit at Roland Garros). And many of her fans would have feared the worst after she dropped the first set against Kaia Kanepi. But Pliskova showcased her grass-court acumen, handing Kanepi back-to-back doughnuts in a brilliant comeback win. That victory took her career grass-court record to a stellar 44-20.
She has won three titles on grass and finished runner-up on three further occasions. This obviously includes her brilliant runner-up finish at last year’s Wimbledon Championships. Grass plays to Pliskova’s strengths. It allows shorter rallies that detract from her mobility issues. It also rewards her pinpoint serving technique.
Former US Open champ Bianca Andreescu has been on a long road to recovery (both physically and mentally). She missed the entirety of the 2020 season due to lockdown and injury concerns.
These issues have persisted and spilled into 2022 (she even considered retiring from the sport). But the Canadian returned to action this year during the European clay-court swing (which isn’t exactly her wheelhouse). And she performed surprisingly well, going 7-4 on the clay despite very little preparation. This included a run to the quarterfinal in Rome.
Like Pliskova, Andreescu needed three sets to see off Siniakova in her first match. But her three-set victory was far less routine than Pliskova’s. The Canadian has barely played any grass-court tennis in her relatively short career. Her victory over Siniakova took her career grass-court record to 2-4.
The Verdict: Pliskova to win in straight-sets at 3/1- This will be the 3rd meeting between these two and they currently share the spoils. Both of those meetings came in 2019 when Andreescu was soaring.
Pliskova is a grass-court specialist who lives for this portion of the year. Her ruthlessness in those final two sets against Kanepi was a thing to behold. I think we could expect something similar in this match.
Coco Gauff (7) (2/11) vs Ann Li (37/10)
This one doesn’t look too mysterious, does it? Coco Gauff returns to action this week following her herculean run in Paris. She looked nervous in the final, defeating herself well before Swiatek applied the finishing touches.
One suspects that Gauff- still just 18 years of age- will have plenty more shots at Grand Slam glory in the future. Gauff returns to the surface that catapulted her into the big time. Gauff took Wimbledon by storm in 2019, beating Venus Williams en route to a 4th round run (she repeated that feat last year).
Gauff is an accomplished grass-court player (she is looking to improve to a 10-3 career record on this surface). She can dominate on serve and her lithe movement allows her to make quick adjustments on return.
This is going to be an uphill task for 21-year-old Ann Li. The promising American has made some strides of her own over the last year or so.
Last year she reached her first final at the Grampians Trophy before claiming her maiden title at the Tenerife Ladies Open. But 2022 hasn’t shown much of an evolution for the young American. In fact, Li seems to have regressed. And grass-courts haven’t been historically kind to Li. She is 4-8 in her career on grass. Having said that, she will come into this event with more grass-court preparation than Gauff.
She competed in Rosmalen last week, defeating last year’s Berlin champ Liudmila Samsonova in her opening match. But veteran Kirsten Flipkens demolished Li in their round of 16 clash. She is going to need something resembling a miracle here.
The Verdict: Gauff to win in straight-sets at 5/10- Gauff leads the head-to-head 1-0. I can’t see any result here other than a comfortable straight-sets win for Gauff. Gauff is generally the superior player. She is also far more suited to this surface. And she enters this event off the back of a Grand Slam final. Li may bank on some emotional hangover on Gauff’s part. But Gauff is wise beyond her years and I expect her to trounce the error-prone Li.
