WTA action is back next week with two tournaments in Pattaya City (Thailand) and Antwerp (Belgium). The PTT Thailand Open is an International event, which has attracted four of the world’s top 50. It’s one those draws that is veryyyy challenging to try and pick out a winner. For coverage and superb photography, @elissetennis is well worth a follow on Twitter. Let’s take a look at the draw…
Peng Shuai headlines the draw in Pattaya City as she continues the elusive hunt for her first ever WTA title. Peng will open her campaign against the world number 106, Alla Kudryavtseva. The Russian player leads the head-to-head 2-0, but their two previous encounters both took place all the way back in 2008. Peng is seeded to meet Monica Puig in the quarter-finals. Puig opens against Stefanie Voegele and could play Elena Vesnina in the second round, who has reached back-to-back quarter-finals in Pattaya. Also worth a mention is Tamarine Tanasugarn who is STILL playing tennis… what a legend. As a wildcard, Tanasugarn will play Misaki Doi in the first round.
The second quarter includes Kurumi Nara and Jarmila Gajdosova. The Aussie, Gajdosova has made a brilliant start to the year after back-to-back top 20 wins over Andrea Petkovic and Dominika Cibulkova in Sydney, and winning her first ever main draw match at the Australian Open. In Fed Cup action this weekend, Gajdosova went 1-1; she defeated Angelique Kerber, 4-6 6-2 6-4, but lost to Andrea Petkovic, 6-3 3-6 8-6. Gajdosova would be my tip for the title if she hadn’t played Fed Cup in Stuttgart. She will have very little time to adjust to conditions in Pattaya with a six hour time difference. Gajdosova opens against a qualifier and could meet the wildly fluctuating, Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round. Nara opens against Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (I had to check how to spell this name 97 times), who hasn’t played a WTA main draw event since Pattaya last year. Nara has made a solid start to the year. She reached the semi-finals in Hobart, but was unlucky to draw Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round of the Australian Open. I’d fancy Nara to have a good week…
In the best of the first round matches, the number three seed, Zarina Diyas will take on Daniela Hantuchova. The pair met in Hobart in the second week of the year with Diyas prevailing, 7-5 6-1. Seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time, Diyas reached the third round of the Australian Open, eventually losing out to Maria Sharapova in two quick sets, 6-1 6-1. Diyas also reached the quarter-finals in Shenzhen and Hobart. She has been progressing nicely in the last year and is certainly one to watch going forward. This feels like the kind of event where she could go all the way and win it. I’m slightly wary of her draw though as Hantuchova can still spring into life (admittedly this is become a rarity these days). Furthermore Diyas could meet Saisai Zheng in the second round. Diyas has lost all four previous encounters against Zheng including in Shenzhen in the first week of the year where Diyas had an opportunity to serve for the match, but faltered and lost in three sets, 3-6 7-6(2) 6-2.
The final quarter is held together by seeds, Elina Svitolina and Zhang Shuai. In one of the more engaging first round match-ups, Svitolina will play Kimiko Date-Krumm. I’m sure I read a comment somewhere that Date-Krumm was starting to feel the strain of life on tour, but I can’t for the life of me remember where that was. Svitolina seems a pretty solid banker for the title this week. The only thing that is making me take caution is that she didn’t have the most encouraging results in Fed Cup action in Hungary. All three matches she played in the round robin stage went the distance; she beat Stefanie Vogt, but lost to Heather Watson and Cagla Buyukakcay (these names are destroying me). Svitolina is seeded to meet Zhang in the quarter-finals, who hasn’t won a singles match in 2015 and has lost six of her last seven matches stretching back to Cincy last year.
1st Round Predictions: Peng d. Kudryavtseva in 3 sets, Doi d. Tanasugarn in 2 sets, Vesnina d. Oprandi in 2 sets, Puig d. Voegele in 3 sets, Shvedova d. Peer in 2 sets, Diyas d. Hantuchova in 3 sets, Vekic d. Zhang in 3 sets and Svitolina d. Date-Krumm in 2 sets
Final Prediction: Svitolina d. Nara
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I hope Vera Zvonareva might make a good run here. She has Williams on the ropes in Melbourne and that has to give her a huge amount of confidence in herself. It’s a shame she’s set to meet Svitolina fairly early because that could be a great final
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