Damien Kayat previews the WTA Tour’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Open matches featuring Karolina Pliskova vs Petra Kvitova as well as Anett Kontaveit vs Angelique Kerber.
2022 WTA Tour
WTA 500
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart Open)
Porsche Arena, Stuttgart, Germany (Indoor Clay-Court)
Selected Round of 32 Matches- 20th April
Karolina Pliskova (6) (59/100) vs Petra Kvitova (13/10)
This should be a fascinating clash between two former Stuttgart champs (not to mention compatriots). 2018 champion Karolina Pliskova has struggled with injuries this year and only made her debut at Indian Wells. She has struggled to find her rhythm this season, coming into this match with a poor 1-3 record. But the 30-year-old Pliskova is now a veteran campaigner who doesn’t necessarily need a bucketload of recent tennis to perform.
A surprise finalist at last year’s Wimbledon Championships, Pliskova has also evolved as a clay-courter as her career has progressed. The statuesque Pliskova really thrives on faster surfaces, where she uses her serve and power to shorten rallies. But she seems to have found a recipe for success on clay in recent years.
She won here in 2018 and has reached the Rome final in the last three seasons (which included a victory in 2019). To be fair, she may want to exorcise the memories of last year’s Rome final. She was absolutely humiliated by Iga Swiatek, losing by the dreaded double bagel.
Despite having far more tennis under her belt this season, Petra Kvitova can’t be feeling too confident in her game.
She possesses a win-loss record of 9-9 leading into this event. This is her 10th event of the year and she is yet to surpass the quarterfinal stage. That’s quite uncharacteristic for this perennial winner. She also had a disquieting start to her clay-court season, as she was forced to withdraw from her Charleston opener due to a thigh issue. The 2019 champ is the last active player to win this event (the 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid and last year’s tournament was won by Ashleigh Barty).
Kvitova loves these indoor clay-court conditions and should be able to get good value off her aggressive game. She has also enjoyed a generally more successfully career on clay, winning the Madrid Open on three occasions.
The Verdict: Kvitova to win in straight sets at 13/10- This will be their 5th career meeting, with Kvitova leading the head-to-head 3-1. She also won their only previous clay-court meeting in Madrid. But this will be the first time they have met in nearly four years. Sure, the Kvitova injury does concern me slightly.
But I just think she is a more solid, all-round clay-court practitioner. And despite her form, I still will take Kvitova’s match-readiness over Pliskova’s lack of preparation. I think she will be all over Pliskova’s weaker 2nd serves. And I fully expect Pliskova’s serve to show signs of rustiness.
Anett Kontaveit (5) (34/100) vs Angelique Kerber (22/10)
Everything seemed to be going swimmingly for Kontaveit as she head into this year’s Sunshine Double. She won four titles in the latter half of last year, propelling her to the WTA Finals (where she would finish runner-up). She seems to have carried that form into 2022, winning in St Petersburg before reaching the final in Qatar. But the wheels seemed to fall off during that crucial North American swing. She won only one game in Indian Wells and Miami combined.
I think that her gruelling trek towards last year’s WTA Finals finally caught up with her. It’s not as if she’s slowed down at all this year. She has played a ridiculous amount of tennis in the last 10 months. She comes into this year’s event fresh off a relaxing three-week break.
She also returns to an event that she thrives in. She reached the semi-finals here in 2018 before going one better in 2019 (she lost to Kvitova in the 2019 final). But she hasn’t had too much clay-court success in recent times.
She played three events on clay last year, with a 3rd round showing at Roland Garros the best that she could muster. It will be interesting to see how she adapts to the conditions this year.
34-year-old Angelique Kerber has suffered a pretty demoralising start to the year. She comes into this event with a 2-4 record for the year.
To be fair, those stats are slightly misleading. She did run into phenom Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells (where she actually managed to win the first set). She then had the misfortune of drawing Naomi Osaka in the opening round of the Miami Open. She must be wondering what she did in a past life to get these draws.
Kerber is actually a two-time Stuttgart champion (she won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016). But generally speaking, Kerber isn’t a clay-court enthusiast. She has won all the Grand Slams played on quicker surfaces. But she has never gone beyond the quarterfinal stage at Roland Garros.
Perhaps she could be buoyed by performing in her home country. She won last year’s inaugural Bad Homburg Open despite having no form leading into Berlin.
The Verdict: Kontaveit to win in three sets at 31/10- This will be the 6th meeting between these two, with the Estonian holding a commanding 4-1 head-to-head advantage. Furthermore, Kontaveit won both their previous meetings on clay.
But Kerber is an uber-competitor who will no doubt be motivated by playing in front of her fanatical support. She could catch Konatveit a bit cold and steal a set. But Kontaveit is far more battle-hardened now and I expect her to grind out a three-set victory.
