Two semi-final picks from Hamburg today, with overcast skies and cool temperatures that should keep the ball low and the rallies honest on clay. Both matches look tight on paper, so let's get into it.
WTA Hamburg Ladies Open Predictions
Mayar Sherif vs Tamara Korpatsch
Head-to-head: Sherif 1-2 Korpatsch
Korpatsch leads this series and is playing in front of her home crowd, which has clearly mattered this week. But Sherif is the higher-ranked player and one of the more underrated clay-courters on the WTA tour, someone who grinds and grinds until her opponents run out of answers. The head-to-head isn't alarming for Sherif given how competitive their matches have been, and reaching a semi-final suggests she's in decent form right now.
That said, crowd support in a semi-final at a home tournament is real, and Korpatsch will feed off it. I think this goes the distance, but Sherif's consistency from the baseline should be enough to get through here, all things considered.
Prediction: Sherif in 3
Elina Avanesyan vs Anna Bondar
Head-to-head: Avanesyan 1-1 Bondar
Avanesyan is ranked well outside the top 100 right now, but rankings don't always tell the full story with her. She can hit through anybody on a good day and she's clearly found something this week to make a semi-final at this level. The series is level at one apiece, so there's no obvious psychological edge either way.
Still, Bondar is the more experienced player and the more reliable one over a best-of-three on clay. Avanesyan's game tends to fluctuate, and Bondar, who has a knack for making matches ugly on this surface, is good at keeping the ball in play long enough to make opponents beat themselves. Bondar wins a tight one.
Prediction: Bondar in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
Credit Image: © Scott Stuart/ZUMA Press Wire