Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA Doha match.
Elise Mertens continues her campaign in Doha, where she has already won a title in the past. This season, the Belgian is showing an excellent level of tennis. Her next challenge is against Cristina Bucsa, who surprisingly made it to the third round after knocking out Anna Kalinskaya. But does the Spaniard have the quality to pull off another upset?
Elise Mertens
Mertens is in fantastic form, having won 11 of her 13 hard-court matches this year. Since the start of the season, she has hit 57 aces, ranking behind only Madison Keys (88) and Clara Tauson (94). Her only weakness is double faults (42 this season), but against opponents at her level, this hasn't significantly affected her results. For example, in the previous round, she easily dismantled Tauson (6:0, retirement).
Cristina Bucsa
The Spaniard had a weak start to the season (3-5), and her win over Kalinskaya (6:7, 7:5, 6:4) was more due to the Russian’s inconsistency than her own quality. Her record in WTA 250 and higher events is poor—she has lost six of her last seven second-round matches. Bucsa did defeat Mertens in their previous meeting late last year (4:6, 6:2, 6:2), but that was largely due to Mertens collapsing in the second set and losing focus thereafter.
Elise Mertens vs Cristina Bucsa Prediction
Right now, Mertens is far superior and more consistent, while Bucsa lacks the resources to cause another upset. The Belgian dominates weaker opponents—in 8 of her 10 wins this season, she has covered a handicap of -4.5.
