Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA 125 match.
At the end of the season, maintaining form becomes increasingly challenging. How will the break in play since the end of October affect Blinkova? Ruse has already played two matches in December, although she is lower in the rankings — will this match practice work in her favour?
Elena-Gabriela Ruse
The Romanian tennis player had little choice: French Angers is closer than Brazilian Florianopolis. In the second round, she fell in a tightly contested match to the lower-ranked Varvara Lepchenko (6:7, 6:7). That tournament was held indoors, leaving Elena-Gabriela with an even indoor hard court record (4-4).
Anna Blinkova
For Anna Blinkova, indoor tournaments have not been her forte this year: four attempts with just one victory. However, if we look at 2022, she won over 70% of her matches (24/9). The main question remains her current form. By October, her results in Mexican tournaments were not outstanding. In Tampico, she was the fifth seed and reached the final but lost to the qualifier, Canadian Marina Stakusic (4:6, 6:2, 4:6). A few days later in Merida, she bowed out in the second round to fellow Russian Alina Korneeva, ranked only 254th in the world (5:7, 2:6).
Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs Anna Blinkova Prediction
Currently, Blinkova won't be fatigued, but she lacks match practice. An advantage and victory for her is possible, but only narrowly. Ruse is not far behind in terms of odds. We expect a battle, so our choice is a total over.
