Elise Mertens vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Linz

Prediction published on 01/02/2024, 12:07  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 01/02/2024 at 13:07 in Tennis Predictions

Elise Mertens bids to reach her second semi-final of the year. The fourth seed takes on unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the last eight of the Upper Austria Linz Open. Mertens was ranked 26th at the start of this indoor hard court tournament and up to 24th in the live list. It's been a good year for her so far with a run to the final of the Hobart International where she was beaten by Emma Navarro. Only the second round was reached in the Australian Open but she did win the women's doubles title. So far in Linz, Mertens has played just one match and that was a straight sets victory over unseeded Lucia Bronzetti. Only four games were lost by her in that match.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was the world number 42 when this tournament started. This run to the last eight has seen her climb to 38th and she'll rise another four places if winning this match. The Russian leads Mertens 2-1 in previous meetings. Mertens won their first meeting in 2017 but has lost the other two. The win Mertens had was on a hard court, for Pavlyuchenkova her victories have been on grass and at last year's clay court French Open. This year has seen her get to the Adelaide quarter final. Beatriz Haddad Maia was beaten but she eventually lost to Jessica Pegula. In the Australian Open, Pavlyuchenkova beat Donna Vekic in round one before being beaten by Paula Badosa. Her two wins in Linz have come in straight sets against unseeded players. We tip Pavlyuchenkova to upset the seed and make it to the semi-final.