Linda Fruhvirtova vs Diana Shnaider Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Ningbo

Prediction published on 28/09/2023, 13:02  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 28/09/2023 at 14:02 in Tennis Predictions

An unseeded player will be in the final of the hard court WTA Ningbo Open. Linda Fruhvirtova takes on Diana Shnaider for a place in the title decider. Waiting for them in the final will be either top seed Ons Jabeur or unseeded Nadia Podoroska. It's been a week of upsets and world number 117 Linda Fruhvirtova has caused two of them. That didn't look like being the case when in round one she lost the first set to Rebeka Masarova 6-1. The second set was won and then Masarova retired when 1-0 down in the third. Since then, Fruhvirtova has beaten fourth seeded Anna Blinkova (losing the middle set) and then eighth seed Lucia Bronzetti for the loss of just three games, all in the first set. This run to the last four has taken the 18-year-old up to 98th in the live rankings but still well below the career high of 49th achieved in June. The main reason for her slipping down the rankings is the loss of the points won when winning the Chennai tournament last September.

Diana Shnaider was 85th at the start of this tournament and is now at 70th in the live list. This is her second WTA Tour semi-final of the year, though the other was on clay. The Russian had lost three of her last four matches before arriving in Ningbo. It's been a great week for her so far, though three sets were needed to get through the first round. A straight sets win over Kamilla Rakhimova followed and that set up a quarter final with second seeded Petra Kvitova. Shnaider won that in three sets to cause the shock. This looks like being a close match and we tip Fruhvirtova to win this match.