Clara Burel vs Donna Vekić Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Linz

Prediction published on 01/02/2024, 11:30  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 01/02/2024 at 23:00 in Tennis Predictions

Third seed Donna Vekic takes on unseeded Clara Burel in the Upper Austria Linz quarter finals. For the winner there's a semi-final against either second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, the fifth seed Anastasia Potapova or unseeded Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Vekic has moved up to 30th in the live rankings, that's four places higher than when this indoor hard court tournament began. That's important for her as she bids to be seeded at the French Open later this year. The Croatian made a good start to this new year. In the United Cup team tournament, the 27-year-old won both her matches for Croatia. Her only other singles event this year has been the Australian Open, losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets  So far in Linz, Vekic has had one match against wild card Dayama Yastremska and won that for the loss of only two games.

Clara Burel has set a new career high by reaching this quarter final. The Frenchwoman is up to 43rd in the live rankings, a rise of nine places. Her previous best was 51st and a win over Vekic will take her up to 39th. It's been a good year for her so far with a run to the last 32 of the Australian Open and a big win over fifth seeded Jessia Pegula. The last 16 of the Brisbane International was also reached and now she's going well in Linz. To get to the last eight, Burel has had a straight sets win over qualifier Sinji Kraus but had to go to a third set to beat unseeded Katerina Siniakova, losing the middle one. This is their first meeting and we go for this match to go to a final set.