Anett Kontaveit favourite to reach Tallinn Open last four
All roads lead to Fort Worth in the USA where the WTA Tour Finals take place. This week sees the Tallinn Open take place and Friday’s quarter finals are important for Anett Kontaveit.
The Estonian is ranked fourth in the world but still has work to do to get to Fort Worth. Currently, Kontaveit is placed only 16th in the live WTA Race and nearly 700 points behind eighth placed Simona Halep.
Last year saw her win four tournaments between August and October before losing in the title decider at the Tour Finals. Form of that nature might be needed again if she is to travel to the USA for the 2022 Finals.
Kontaveit is the top seed in the Tallinn Open and winning the title would put her just under 500 points behind eighth place. Fort Worth might be getting a bit closer for her if winning this title and then performs well in tournaments in San Diego and the WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara in October.
The world number four takes on the qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure in Friday’s quarter final. The winner takes on an unseeded player in the last four, either Kai Kanepi or Karolina Muchova.
This week has seen Kontaveit have a straightforward route to the last eight. Even so, she made hard work of it in the first round. The first set was lost to Wang Xiyu and had to go to 7-5 to clinch victory in the final set. Round two was a bit easier with only three games dropped against unseeded Tereza Martincova.
According to the sports betting aggregator Offers.bet, Kontaveit is the clear favourite here and can get a vital win. A side bet on her doing so in straight sets looks a good one to make. Tougher tasks lie ahead for the top seed with Belinda Bencic, Beatriz Haddad Mia and Barbora Krejcikova, potential opponents in the final.
Her quarterfinal opponent began this week ranked 138th. The Belgian number four is 150th in the WTA Race so doesn’t hold any hope of making it to Fort Worth. Bonaventure had to win two qualifiers to make it into the Tallinn Open main draw and won both in straight sets.
The Belgian has made it to the last eight without dropping a set. American Shelby Rogers was beaten in the first round and then ninth seeded Jil Tiechman in round two. Mainly playing on the ITF circuit, this is her first WTA quarter final since Hamburg last year.
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