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As we say just about every time the whirlwind of grand slam tennis comes to an end, tennis never stops. This week, the WTA Tour is right back at it, with a 500 level event in San Diego, a 250 tournament in Osaka and then a pair of 125K events in Romania and Slovenia.
For Monday’s preview, it’s off to the Slovenian capital to preview Sinja Kraus vs Lucija Ciric Bagaric from the Zavarovalnica Sava Open.
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As many players as I’ve watched play at the professional level in the last several years, I cannot say I’m all that familiar with the 19-year-old Croatian.
I do, however, know Kraus’ game and I know she prefers clay, has played at a higher level on tour more often and is both comfortable on the slower surface, with the ability to play offensive tennis as well.
We’ll look more at the record of Ciric Bagaric later, but needless to say, it’s not inspiring and it’s clear to me that Kraus is the more seasoned of the two youngsters here. I have her as a stronger favourite than the market does at present.
Read on for more expert insights.
It’s been a fairly strong season for the Austrian, who had a bit of a rough go during the summer, but much of that can be chalked up to taking on very high-level ITF or even tour-level talent – often off of her preferred clay courts.
Earlier this season, she looked really strong in South America on the red dirt, and she made the semifinals of a higher points ITF tournament in Wiesbaden, Germany as well.
Throw in a quarterfinal on home soil last week and she’s been pretty strong against this type of competition. She has a strong enough serve and heavy forehand as well, allowing her to dictate play and kick the ball out of her opposition’s preferred strike zone.
With most of her losses coming to players like Arantxa Rus, Greet Minnen, Olga Danilovic, Daria Saville and other players of that calibre, I’m not too concerned about the downswing we saw in the last few months. Ciric Bagaric is far from the level of those women and shouldn’t trouble Kraus nearly as much.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m not all that familiar with Ciric Bagaric’s game, but she hasn’t exactly burst onto the scene in terms of women’s tennis.
She’s made a slew of clay-court ITF finals in the last few months, but her best win being Ilinca Amariei speaks volumes as to who she’s actually beaten.
Her ranking being near the top-300 is more a byproduct of beating lesser opposition than her own game really progressing all that much.
No head-to-head to speak of between these two yet, and there isn’t a whole lot to look at statistically either.
Kraus’ ranking is about 100 spots higher, but simply evaluating rankings – especially when dealing with talented youngsters who haven’t had time to really accumulate points – can be misleading.
Odds as at 2:30 am UK Time on September 9th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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