Sara Sorribes Tormo vs Tatjana María Prediction & Betting Tips - Cleveland, USA, Qualifying

Prediction published on 25/08/2023, 07:45  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 25/08/2023 at 10:30 in Tennis Predictions

We're guaranteed an unseeded player in the final of the Tennis in the Land tournament in Cleveland. In-form Tatjana Maria takes on lucky loser Sara Sorribes Tormo looking to reach her second successive final. The winner will face either fourth seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova or unseeded Zhu Lin. It's been a strange week for Sara Sorribes Tormo after being beaten in the qualifiers by Clara Burel. That wasn't the end of her week in Cleveland as withdrawals saw her reinstated as a lucky loser. The Spaniard has certainly made the most of her reprieve. Her three main draw victories have all been achieved in straight sets and in the last eight, she beat Sloane Stephen for the loss of only four games. Round two saw her defeat the third seed Veronika Kudermetova with five games dropped. Just 11 out of 41 games have been lost by her.

Tatjana Maria won the WTA 125 tournament held in Baranquilla last week. Only 14 games were lost in five matches in that hard court event with no sets dropped. The German has only lost one set so far in Cleveland. Round one saw her beat Varvara Gracheva in three sets, losing the middle one. A walkover was received in the second round as fifth seed Anhelina Kalinina (who plays Tormo in round one of the US Open next week) withdrew. A straight sets victory followed in the quarter finals as Maria beat Leylah Fernandez for the loss of five games. The four sets won by her this week have only seen eight games lost. There's only been one previous meeting and that was seven years ago with Maria winning 6-3 6-1 in a hard court match. Maria (now 47th in the live rankings) looks to be in the better form and we go for her to win this semi-final.