Two first round matches in Istanbul. Sorana Cirstea was the champion last season, beating Mertens in straight sets in the final. Cirstea has a tough opening match against Sasnovich.
Mertens and Peterson are first up
Mertens 1.38 v Peterson 3.55
Mertens has won all 4 of their previous matches. They last met at the US Open in August 2021. It was obviously on a hard court and Mertens won in a 3rd set tiebreak. All their matches were on hard courts and only 1 ended in 2 sets.
Long term and 12 month clay results are better for Mertens. She reached the final last season. She made the 3rd round at the French Open and the quarter finals in Madrid in 2021.
Peterson reached the semi finals in WTA Bastad last season. She reached 2 quarter finals in May 2021.
Back Mertens around 1.85 to 2.00 and remove liability at 1.40.
Van Uytvanck 2.34 v Tomljanovic 1.72
Tomljanovic leads their previous matches 3-1. The last time they met was on a hard court at the Korean Open in September 2018. Tomljanovic won in 3 tight sets. She won on clay in Istanbul in 2018, 2 sets.
Tomljanovic has better long term and 12 month clay results. She hasn’t had amazing results on clay but last season she consistently made the second rounds of most tournaments and made the third round in Charleston in April 2021.
Van Uytvanck doesn’t have a great record on clay. She has won 2 of her last 10 and 24 of her last 50. Her last decent result on clay was when she reached the final of a WTA Challenger in August 2019.
Back Tomljanovic around 2.10 to 2.30 and remove liability at 1.55.
