One semi-final pick from Beijing today, and it's a matchup that looks straightforward on paper but has a few wrinkles worth talking about.
WTA China Open Predictions
Mirra Andreeva vs Nikola Bartunkova
Head-to-head: Andreeva 1-0 Bartunkova
Andreeva took their only previous meeting, so the head-to-head doesn't tell us a whole lot yet, but the ranking gap between a top-5 player and someone ranked 34th is real and it shows up in how consistently Andreeva can construct points on hard courts. She's become so good at not panicking in long rallies and on a fast hard court in Beijing she has all the tools to dictate the tempo from the back of the court.
That said, Bartunkova has had a genuinely impressive run to get here and she's clearly playing some of the best tennis of her career right now. She hits through the ball cleanly and won't just hand Andreeva anything. I feel like this goes three sets, with Bartunkova making things uncomfortable for a spell in the middle of the match, but Andreeva's level when it matters is just a notch above anything Bartunkova has shown so far and should still find a way to get through here, all things considered. Andreeva closes it out.
Prediction: Andreeva in 3
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