WTA Serbia Open 2021: Women’s Singles Preview, Analysis and Prediction

The 2021 Serbia Open is a WTA 250 tournament in the 2021 WTA Tour. It will be played on outdoor clay courts of Belgrade, Serbia. This is the first edition of the event on the ladies tour, the men’s tour has already witnessed five seasons of it.

World no.30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is the top seed in this tournament. The veteran Russian has had two very good tournaments back to back and will be looking to win the crown here in Belgrade. She will be challenged by other top players like second seed Yulia Putintseva and third seed Zhang Shuai. Fourth seed Paula Badosa is one of the favourites for the tournament if not the favourite. The Dark horse for the tournament will be WTA Charleston 2021 Finalist Danka Kovinic. 

Tournament Details:

• Tournament: WTA Serbia Open 
• Date: May 16th-22nd, 2021
• Number of Entrants: 32 (Singles), 16 (Doubles)
• Venue: Belgrade, Serbia  
• Surface: Clay Court
• Prize Money: $235,238
• Defending champion: Not available 

Top Seeds at the Serbia Open 2021

• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
• Yulia Putintseva
• Zhang Shuai
• Paula Badosa
• Danka Kovinic

Women’s Singles Draw Analysis and Prediction

Top Half

The top half of the draw will feature top seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the fourth seed, Spanish girl Paula Badosa, the sixth seed, Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, and the Australian Ajla Tomljanović. The Round of sixteen match between the Top seed and Canadian player Leylah Fernandez should be interesting.

Fernandez has recently won the Monterrey Open, and will be raring to go. The likely winner of this match, Pavlyuchenkova, will face Kristina Mladenovic in the First Quarter-finals. The second Quarter-finals is likely between Paula Badosa and Ajla Tomljanović. In the first Quarter-finals, Pavlyuchenkova is the likely winner. The second Quarter-finals will be won by Badosa. 

First Semifinal Prediction: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Paula Badosa

Bottom Half

The bottom half of the draw has a good mix of experience and form. Top players like the second seed Yulia Putintseva, third seed Zhang Shuai, fifth seed Nadia Podoroska and the dark horse of this tournament Danka Kovinić. Kovinić, who was the Finalist at the Charleston Open, will face Chinese player Zhang Shuai in what will be the third Quarter Final. Zhang Shuai has not been in the best of forms, having lost in the first round match in all the four clay court events this year.

Kovinić is expected to win this and book her place in the Semis. The fourth and last of the Quarter Finals is between Nadia Podoroska and Yulia Putintseva. Podoroska is still on a high after beating Serena Williams at the Italian Open. Putintseva has not found her best form this year, but she should get the job done against Podoroska.

Second Semifinal Prediction: Yulia Putintseva vs Danka Kovinić.

Semifinals

The First-semi will be a blockbuster encounter between Badosa and Pavlyuchenkova. Badosa has had a fantastic last few weeks on clay. She reached the Semi-finals of the Charleston Open, defeating Ash Barty in the Quarter-finals. At Madrid, Badosa again reached the Semi-finals, but this time she was defeated by Ash Barty. Pavlyuchenkova is in good form too. She reached the Semi-finals of the Istanbul Cup and also the Madrid Open that followed. Badosa though is the favourite to win.

The second Semi-final is between Yulia Putintseva and Danka Kovinić. Putintseva may be seeded higher but she is not in great form. Kovinić on the other hand reached the Finals of the Charleston Open and the Semi-finals of the MUSC Open. In Madrid, she reached the Main draw by playing the qualifying rounds.  

Final Prediction:  Paula Badosa vs Danka Kovinić. 

Final

Paula Badosa on her day can beat top players like Ash Barty, and that is exactly how dangerous she is on clay. Danka Kovinić is a decent player but lacks experience at the top level. Badosa has been doing consistently well on clay this year, and actually deserves to win a WTA trophy. If she does, it will be her first WTA Trophy. But, she must not underestimate Kovinić, who is much better than her World Ranking of No.62 suggests.

To lift the Title: Paula Badosa 

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