Caroline Wozniacki vs Aryna Sabalenka Tennis Prediction
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki faced a match point in the second set before she could turn the semifinal clash against Angelique Kerber around, moving into her third Eastbourne final by defeating the fellow former #1 for the second time in this season, 2-6 7-6 6-4.
Wozniacki, who capped her clay season with a round of 16 run at the French Open, has taken out three seeded players this week, including crowd favorite Johanna Konta from a set down (4-6 6-1 6-4) and the newly-crowned Nottingham champion Ashleigh Barty (6-4 6-3).
This is Wozniacki’s third final of the year, after losing at Auckland (l. Goerges) and triumphing at the Australian Open (d. Halep). Wozniacki has a 1-1 record in Eastbourne finals as well, lifting the trophy in 2009 (d. Razzano, her only grass title) and ending up as the runner-up in 2017 (l. Pliskova).
Wozniacki, who won her 50th career main draw match on grass and secured her 30th season win en route to this final, has gone 18-2 against outside top 40 players in 2018, with the two losses coming in the opening rounds of Miami (Puig) and Istanbul (Parmentier, retired).
Aryna Sabalenka ousts former champion Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets to move into the first Premier-level final of her career. The big-hitting Belarusian, who came from a break down in the deciding set, blasted 54 winners in one hour and 55 minutes, compared the Pole’s measly eleven.
Sabalenka, coming off a quarterfinal run at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the first-round exit at Mallorca, had never played a WTA match on grass before this month. Her experience on this surface was limited to a semifinal at Manchester $100k and the second round at Wimbledon (qualifier) in 2017.
Sabalenka, whose biggest title is a $125k at 2017 Mumbai, has lost her two previous WTA finals, 2017 Tianjin (Sharapova) and 2018 Lugano (Mertens). She entered this week with two top 20 wins to her name but extended the list after defeating #13 Goerges, #15 Mertens and #7 Pliskova (first top 10 win).
The 20-year-old is the third Belarusian to have reached an Eastbourne final after Natasha Zvereva (won the title in 1999) and Victoria Azarenka (runner-up in 2010). Currently in the top 25 of WTA Race with a guaranteed top 40 debut, she can go as high as #30 with a title.
This will be the pair’s first meeting. Wozniacki is the firm favorite in this clash as Sabalenka’s only other top 5 meeting ended in a 6-2 6-2 loss at 2018 Shenzhen to #1 Halep. Moreover, all of the youngster’s matches this week has gone to the third set, having spent ten hours on court, compared to the Dane’s seven (not counting Sabalenka’s doubles matches).
Tennis Prediction: Caroline Wozniacki 2-0
Odds: 1.77
