Damien Kayat previews Jodie Anna Burrage vs Tamara Korpatsch and Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs Anna Bondar in selected round of 16 matches of the Winners Open on the 19th of October 2023.
2023 WTA Tour
WTA 250
Winners Open
Winners Sports Club, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (Outdoor Clay-court)
Selected Round of 16 Matches – 19th October
Jodie Anna Burrage 51/100 | Tamara Korpatsch 15/10
This has been a turbulent year in the career of 24-year-old Brit Jodie Anna Burrage. She endured a miserable start to the year (injuries prevented her from generating any positive momentum).
She then had the added pressure of having her boyfriend- rugby player Ben White- lose his job when London Irish went into administration. Nonetheless, Burrage overcame those obstacles, reaching her first WTA final at the Nottingham Open (where she lost to Katie Boulter in the first all-English WTA final in 46). She then won her maiden Grand Slam match at Wimbledon.
She would go on to double her Grand Slam tally with an impressive victory over Blinkova at the US Open. She came into this tournament in pretty dire form (she hadn’t won a tour-level match since the conclusion of the US Open).
She will be relieved with the way she dismantled Ankita Raina in her opener and she will be hoping for a solid end to her 2023 campaign.
28-year-old German Tamara Korpatsch has struggled to advance at tour-level and has enjoyed the majority of her success at ITF level. She has enjoyed virtually all of her success on clay surfaces (17 of her 19 career finals have come on slower surfaces).
That should bode well for her chances this week. Korptasch has had a pretty disappointing year with one or two standout results. She overcame Alize Cornet in the Prague Open to reach just her 3rd career semi-final. She- like Burrage- won her first two career Grand Slam matches this year (one at Wimbledon and one at the US Open).
The nuggety baseliner has been in pretty poor form of late and will feel elated after somehow surviving her opener against Leolia Jeanjean. She will look to absorb Burrage’s groundstrokes and counterpunch accordingly.
The Verdict: Korpatsch to win in straight-sets at 31/10
Korpatsch leads the head-to-head rivalry 1-0, taking down Burrage in the recent Ningbo Open. Korpatsch was extremely impressive in that match, absorbing everything the Brit threw at her. She actually produced one of the shots of the year, crunching a sensational backhand down the line after an exhaustive rally. I expect more of the same this week, with the German in her element on these clay surfaces.
Elena-Gabriela Ruse 77/100 | Anna Bondar 1/1
25-year-old Elena-Gabriela Ruse is one of a number of Romanian players who has lived in the shadow of Simona Halep. She hasn’t really been able to forge her own identity in the same way as Sorana Cirstea.
She seemed to be on the cusp of a breakthrough in 2021, winning the Hamburg European Open and reaching the final of the Palermo Open (both on clay). But Rus has failed to achieve any consistency since that cluster of impressive results.
In fact, the Romanian has only won four tour-level matches this entire season. But there have been a few encouraging signs in recent weeks. Last week she reached the semi-final of an ITF event in Portugal and she just overcame 2nd seed Alycia Parks in a tough three-set encounter. She will look to use that victory against hard-hitting Alycia Parks as a springboard for energizing a flagging campaign.
Next up for Elena-Gabriela Ruse will be 26-year-old Hungarian Anna Bondar. Bondar is a true tactician, looking to construct points and use all the variety at her disposal. But she has also struggled to impose herself at tour-level this campaign.
She has achieved most of her best results on clay and 2023 has been no exception. She picked up her best result of the season at the Ladies Open Lausanne- making it to the final four. She also won the TCCB Open- an ITF event played on clay- as recently as September.
She had to come back from a set down in her opener against Soboleva and she will need to significantly up her level if she wishes to go any further in this event.
The Verdict: Ruse to win in three sets at 7/2
These two share the head-to-head spoils at one win apiece. Ruse has been truly dreadful this year and it’s hard to back her with any real confidence. But that victory over Parks is exactly the sort of unexpected result that can rejuvenate careers. Lest we forget, this is a former WTA champion.
