Karolina Muchova vs Caroline Garcia Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Finals

Prediction published on 14/02/2023, 05:47  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 14/02/2023 at 08:24 in Tennis Predictions

Third seeded Caroline Garcia takes on unseeded Karolina Muchova in the Total Qatar Open second round. A place in the quarter finals of this WTA 500 tournament is up for grabs with the other seeded player in this part of the draw being Maria Sakkari. Garcia began this week ranked fifth in the world just one place below her career high ranking achieved five years ago. The French player has won eight of her ten matches this year. The last 16 of the Australian Open was reached and then Garcia made it to the final of the WTA event held in Lyon. No title was won though as the 29-year-old was surprisingly beaten by unseeded Alycia Parks. Garcia didn't play last week and received a bye through to this second round.

Karolina Muchova started this Total Qatar Open ranked 123rd but was 151st at the start of the year. Muchova got into the main draw via her protected ranking. Muchova was ranked as high as 19th two years ago but slipped down the list due to being off-court between September 2021 and March of last year due to injury. The 26-year-old struggled when making her comeback and only reached one quarter final. 2023 started well for her with a run to the last eight in Auckland but was beaten in the second round of the Australian Open. Muchova took the first set against 13th seed Danielle Collins but lost the next two. This is her first tournament since that Grand Slam and the first round saw her defeat Martina Trevisan for the loss of just four games. That success took her up to 110th in the live rankings. This is her first match against Garcia but it's the third seed who we believe will reach the quarter finals.