Anna Blinkova
Russia’s Anna Blinkova and Emma Navarro of the US will face off in the quarter-finals of the WTA Strasbourg tournament
Anna Blinkova is currently ranked World No.63 in WTA singles and hasn’t made a mark at the senior level yet. She is coming to this tournament at the back of a second-round exit from the Italian Open. She has been pretty inconsistent on the tour and there are no noteworthy performances from her so far this season. On a positive note, she has made a good start to the tournament in Strasbourg and will be looking to capitalise on it.
Blinkova has played two thrilling encounters in her previous rounds. She began her campaign with a hard-fought win in three sets against Amandine Hesse. In the next round, she got the better of Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam in a match that lasted close to two hours with the second set just refusing to end. Blinkova will be looking to carry forward this positive momentum into her match against Navarro and put on another commendable display.
Emma Navarro has been very impressive so far in Strasbourg. She won her opening match against Tereza Martincova in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 before pulling off a major upset against No.8 seed Jil Teichmann. Navarro is not a regular on the WTA tour but recently reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 125K event in Saint-Malo, which must be a great confidence booster for her. However, the job only gets tougher from here on and it will be interesting to see if she has what it takes to progress further into the tournament.
Date – Thursday, 25th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Strasbourg
Match details – Quarter-final
Blinkova and Navarro 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, Blinkova is the favourite both in terms of form and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the promising American and she is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting an intense encounter with Blinkova eventually winning in three sets.
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