Katie Volynets will take on Romania’s Sorana Cirstae in the opening round of the Italian Open

Volynets has had a pretty disappointing season so far barring a one-off semi-final appearance at the ATX Open in March. However, she did well to make it to the Semi-finals of the WTA 125 Saint-Malo tournament last week. Volynets pulled off two major upsets against third seed Maryna Zanevska and seventh seed Magdalena Frech before eventually losing to Greet Minnen in the semis.

The young American is currently ranked just outside the top 100 at 102nd place in the WTA singles rankings. She will be looking to draw confidence from her good showing in France and put together a consistent run of form in Italy. She will certainly face a stern test against the veteran Sorana Cristea and it remains to be seen if Volynets manages to play her natural game against the Romanian.

Sorana Cirstae’s form coming into the match

Cirstae is coming into this match at the back of a title-winning campaign in Catalonia. She dropped only one set during her entire campaign at the WTA 125 tournament last week and this win must have given her a major boost in confidence ahead of the Italian Open. Cristea has been in decent form so far this season and notably made it to the semi-finals of the Miami Open earlier this year. The Romanian is currently ranked World No.34 in WTA singles and has what it takes to defeat anyone on a given day, which makes her a dangerous opponent.

Details:

Date – Wednesday, 10th May

Court Type – Clay outdoor surface

Telecast – Tennis Channel

Start Time – To be Announced

Location – Foro Italico

Match details – Round of 128 match

Head-to-head and Predictions

Volynets and Cirstae have never played each other before on the WTA tour. This is the first professional head to head clash between the two players. On paper, Cirstae is the outright favourite both in terms of form and experience. However, one can certainly not rule out Volynets and the American is expected to put up a tough fight. We are expecting a close encounter with the experienced Cirstae eventually coming out on top in three sets.

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