Anna Bondar vs Sorana Cirstea Prediction & Betting Tips - Lyon, France, Qualifying

Prediction published on 03/03/2022, 13:10  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 03/03/2022 at 14:10 in Tennis Predictions

Unseeded Anna Bondar faces the second seed Sorana Cirstea in the Lyon Open quarter finals. Cirstea is the highest remaining seed and only one of two seeds left in the bottom half of the draw, the other being Jasmine Piolini. The Italian is ranked 30th in the world and up a couple of places in the live rankings. The year began with the Romanian in 39th place but it's been a good start to 2022 and she's 20th in the WTA Race, based on points earned this calendar year. Her best tournament before this week was the Australian Open, where the Romanian reached the last 16. 10th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was beaten before she lost to Iga Swiatek after winning the first set. Tournaments were played in St Petersburg and Doha and it took top ten players Barbora Krejcikova and Garbine Muguruza to beat her. Wins this week have come against Mariam Bolkvadze and Stefanie Vogele in straight sets.

Bondar is the world number 79 and the Hungarian has climbed 13 places this year to her highest ever ranking. That will be beaten in the next list as Bondar is up to 75th in the live rankings and a win here will take her into the top 70. Bondar made it to the second round of the Melbourne Summer Set 1 tournament, including a win over world number 49 Katerina Siniakova. Before Pavlyuchenkova lost to Cirstea at the Australian Open, Bondar had lost to the Russian, winning just three games. She then failed to qualify for the main draw in both St Petersburg and Dubai. This week has produced victories over qualifier Yuriko Miyazaki in the first round, (coming from a set down to get the win) and then another qualifier, Katie Boulter. Bondar won the first set and then her British opponent retired with an injury. Back Cirstea to win in straight sets.