Julia Grabher vs Lin Zhu Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Cleveland Open

Prediction published on 22/08/2023, 02:46  by Nella Wagah in Tennis Predictions

Julia Grabher and Zhu Lin, both unseeded, will meet on Tuesday at the Tennis in the Land tournament in Cleveland. The winner of this second-round showdown will play either top seed Caroline Garcia or the unseeded Peyton Stearns in the quarterfinals. Julia Grabher defeated the qualifier Wang Xiyu in straight sets in the first round. She lost six games in the encounter and will hope for the same outcome in order to secure her first win against Lin. The Austrian is in fine form at the moment and has won her last six fixtures. Grabher arrived in Cleveland after winning the Maspalomas Gran Canaria in the ITF circuit. This was on clay and marked her first title success of the year. She will hope to ride this momentum in her quest to turn her season around. The 27-year-old has struggled on every single surface apart from clay. She has compiled a 23-25 record and has lost eight times in 13 outings on hard court. Grabher is up one place to 53rd in the live ranking which is a new career high.

Zhu Lin sits five places above Grabher at number 48 in the live ranking. She also began her tournament with a straight sets victory. The Chinese number two dominated her tie with eighth seed Anna Blinkova and lost just three games with the first set ending 6-0. This ruthless showing ended a four-match losing streak and she will be keen to not revert back to that unwanted run. Just like Grabher, Lin has also had a rocky campaign. She has compiled a 19-16 record with the majority of her victories, 15, coming on hardcourt. The surface has also seen her suffer defeat the most. But as she has defeated Grabher on hardcourt before, she will be confident of extending her stay here past this round. Lin won in three sets against Grabher in Tampico last season in what was their first encounter.