8th seed Marta Kostyuk squares off against Taiwanese qualifier Joanna Garland in the round of 32 of the Open de Limoges on Monday.
The Ukrainian youngster reached the third round of the Australian Open for the second time in her career. In the doubles circuit, she made it to the quarterfinals at the French Open for the second straight year. Kostyuk reached the semifinals at the Granby National Bank Championships in August.
The 20-year-old last played at the Guadalajara Open in October. After defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Kostyuk lost in the round of 32 to fourth seed Maria Sakkari. Kostyuk will hope that the lack of playing time as of late won’t be a problem as she gets her campaign underway.
The 21-year-old has played a lot of tennis this year on the ITF circuit. She has played in a lot of tournaments in Great Britain and has achieved decent success. She reached her first final of 2022 at an ITF event in Tunisia in April. After falling short in the final, Garland won the title in the following tournament in Tunisia. In Great Britain, Garland made it to the finals in May but lost to Sonay Kartal. Garland won a couple of titles in Great Britain in August.
The Taiwanese youngster played in the WTA Angers Arena Loire Open before coming to Limoges. She lost in the first round after progressing from the qualifiers. Garland made it to the main draw in Limoges after defeating Jana Fett in straight sets in a qualifying match.
The head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 0-0 as the two players have not faced each other as yet.
Prediction: Marta Kostyuk to win in straight sets.
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