A few second-round picks from the grass in Ilkley today, and honestly some interesting calls on the lower end of the draw. Rankings don't always tell the full story on grass, and all three of these matches feel genuinely open.
WTA Lexus Ilkley Open Predictions
Viktorija Golubic vs Katie Swan
Head-to-head: First meeting
Golubic is the higher-ranked player here, but Swan is British and playing on home soil, and grass is genuinely her best surface. The crowd support in Ilkley will be real and Swan has the flat, low-bouncing ball that suits this kind of court better than almost anything else in her game.
Golubic has had decent results on grass over the years but she's never been someone who dominates on it, and at ranking 70 she's not exactly in the form of her life right now. I think Swan takes this one in three, and it wouldn't surprise me at all.
Prediction: Swan in 3
Elizabeth Mandlik vs Dalma Galfi
Head-to-head: First meeting
Galfi is the higher-ranked player and the more consistent ball-striker, and on a surface like grass where the rallies can be shorter and errors come easier, her cleaner groundstrokes should do the damage. Hard to see Mandlik competing with that kind of quality gap given where their respective forms are right now.
Galfi in three seems right. Grass can be unpredictable but there's enough here to back her.
Prediction: Galfi in 3
Harmony Tan vs Lanlana Tararudee
Head-to-head: First meeting
This is the most interesting one on paper. Tararudee is ranked more than 100 places above Tan right now, but Tan on grass is a completely different player from Tan on hard or clay. She famously took a set off Serena at Wimbledon a few years back and her heavy slice and natural feel for the surface make her genuinely dangerous here.
That said, Tararudee hasn't done much on grass in her career and the conditions probably don't suit her nearly as well. Tan should still find a way to get through here, all things considered.
Prediction: Tan in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
Credit Image: © Loic Baratoux/ZUMA Press Wire