A couple of semi-final picks from Istanbul today, where it's overcast and mild at around 18°C with very little rain threat. Both matches look genuinely competitive, and there's a real chance we see some lower-ranked players making noise here. Who do you think gets through to the final?
WTA Istanbul Open Predictions
Donna Vekic vs Guiomar Zuleta De Reales
Head-to-head: First meeting
On paper, Vekic is the higher-ranked player by a wide margin, but clay has never really been her best surface and she's had a pretty rough run of form in 2025. Zuleta De Reales, on the other hand, has clearly been playing well enough to reach a WTA semi-final as a 189-ranked player, and that's not something you get to by accident on clay.
This is a first meeting, so there's no recent history to lean on, but the slow conditions and Reales' form throughout the week make this closer than the rankings suggest. Reales wins this one, though it'll go the distance.
Prediction: Reales in 3
Alice Tubello vs Maria Timofeeva
Head-to-head: Tubello 0-1 Timofeeva
Timofeeva holds the only previous result between these two and comes in as the higher-ranked player, so she's got a reasonable case here. That said, Tubello is ranked 256 and is in a WTA semi-final, which tells you everything about how her week has gone and clay clearly suits her game more than the ranking implies.
The head-to-head loss stings a little, but form in the week matters more at this level of the draw. I think Tubello has enough to flip this one and make the final, all things considered.
Prediction: Tubello in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
Credit Image: © Marcin Cholewinski/ZUMA Press Wire