Barbora Krejcikova vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich – Prediction – WTA Linz (Austria) 13.11.2020

H2H: Barbora Krejcikova v Aliaksandra Sasnovich – comparison.

This is Krejcikova’s biggest hard-court quarterfinal appearance, and only the second above the W25 level ($60k Launceston in 2017). Sasnovich, on the other hand, has posted four out of her five WTA semifinals on hard courts, and will be the favorite despite having lost the pair’s only previous clash at 2014 $25k Torun (clay).

---

---

After starting the week with a two-hour, three-setter against qualifier Harmony Tan, Barbora Krejcikova was then drawn into an even more challenging affair. She came two points within losing to Greet Minnen multiple times and needed two hours and 51 minutes to survive, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4, saving all five breakpoints in the last two sets. While her only previous singles appearance at Linz ended in the qualifyings 2017, Krejcikova won this tournament’s doubles title with Siniakova in 2019. This has now also become the site of her fourth career WTA singles quarterfinal, after 2017 Nuremberg (R-up) and 2017 Bastad (l. Garcia) and 2019 Bucharest (l. Di Giuseppe).

Aliaksandra Sasnovich’s path to the quarterfinal has been much more simpler than the Czech, even though she was taken to the deciding set by qualifier Jana Fett in the second round. The Belarusian is making her main draw debut at Upper Austria Ladies Linz, previously only playing its 2014 edition and falling in the qualifyings. When the tour restarted after the pandemic break, Sasnovich had not reached a WTA quarterfinal since her semifinal finish at Sydney in January 2019. She has since made a couple of such appearances on the clay courts of Palermo and Istanbul, though lost both of them to Petra Martic and Tereza Martincova in straight sets.

Both players came into Linz with a post-break form which has been unmistakably better than the months before the lockdown. Krejcikova reached the fourth round of a major for the first time as a singles player, at Paris. Sasnovich had collected 11 wins in her last five outings, including a third round at the US Open (d. Vondrousova).

Match Info.