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Tatjana Maria vs Lucie Safarova Tennis Prediction

Lucie Safarova secures her second win over former #1 Victoria Azarenka in their eighth meeting, defeating the two-time Australian Open champion in straight sets (6-3 6-4) to move into the Mallorca quarterfinals. In this 89-minute clash, the Czech struck 27 winners (13 more than Azarenka) and ten unforced errors.
The former world #5, debuting at Mallorca as the seventh seed, came back from her three-month long illness break at Strasbourg, losing to Su-Wei Hsieh in the second round. The 2015 French Open finalist went on to fall to Ka. Pliskova in the second round of the clay slam as well.
The 31-year-old has reached just one WTA final on grass, 2005 ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. Koukalova). Since then, she has been in three tour-level semifinals on the surface, including once at Wimbledon in 2014. Two of those final four finishes came last year, Nottingham (l. Vekic) and Birmingham (ret. to Kvitova).
Tatjana Maria, who knocked out fourth seed Anett Kontaveit in the first round, has backed that up with a win over compatriot Carine Witthoeft in the second. The world #79 took 91 minutes to end this match, winning 79% on her first serve and saving 4/5 break points.
Maria arrived at Mallorca having won just two WTA matches in the entire season. Those were against two outside top 100 players, Lauren Davis (Charleston) and Garcia Perez (Bogota). She now seeks her second WTA semifinal appearance, after 2017 Quebec City (l. eventual champion Van Uytvanck).
This will be the pair’s first encounter. Safarova, who played clean tennis against Azarenka in the second round, looks to have regained her form after the break. The Czech should be able to get past the German, who doesn’t find grass as her most successful surface.

Tennis Prediction: Lucie Safarova
Odds: 1.40