Petra Martić vs Anastasia Potapova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Linz

Prediction published on 11/02/2023, 13:34  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 11/02/2023 at 17:19 in Tennis Predictions

Sixth seeded Petra Martic takes on the eighth seed Anastasia Potapova in the Upper Austria Ladies Open final. Martic is bidding to win her third WTA Tour title but the other two were won on clay not an indoor hard court surface as is the case in Linz. Martic started this tournament ranked 34th but the Croatian is now 30th and will climb to 26th if beating Potapova. The rise in to the top 32 is important for Martic as it will see her seeded at the French Open. Martic made a slow start to the new year but had some tough opposition including top ten players Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia. Last week saw her face Alycia Parks in Lyon, who went on to to win the tournament. This week has seen Martic have to go to the final set in two of her four matches. The Croatian had to come from behind to beat Alison Van Uytvanck in round two and then got revenge on Sakkari with a three-set win over the top seed, again losing the first set.

Anastasia Potapova began this week ranked 44th in the world but is up to 33rd which will easily beat her career high of 42nd. A win over Bencic will see her rise another two places in the rankings. The 21-year-old has made a slow start to the year, failing to qualify for the main round of the first Adelaide International. The second tournament in Adelaide saw her get to the main draw but lose to Katerina Sianakova in the first round. The first set was lost 6-1 and she retired when 1-0 down in the second set. Only the second round was reached in the Australian Open and then the last eight in Lyon last week. No players in the top 100 were beaten though. This tournament has been a tough but successful one for Potapova. All four of her matches have gone to the final set with two of them seeing her lose the first set. That wasn't the case in her semi-final when beating unseeded Marketa Vondrousova. No seeds have been beaten on her way to this final. There have been two previous meetings between the pair and it's 1-1 but this is their first match on a hard court. A bet on this match going to three sets looks a winner.