Kiki Bertens barged into the second round of the 2017 Ericsson Open with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory over Carina Witthoeft on Tuesday. It was a solid performance by Bertens who recorded her 28th match victory of the season. All the momentum is with Kiki Bertens who is fresh off a tournament win in Gstaad. She notched her second title of the season with a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over No. 3 seed Anett Kontaveit in the final last Sunday.
Bertens will look to stretch her unbeaten run even further when she locks horns with Barbora Krejcikova in the round of 16. Bertens will fancy her chances of doing just that as she has fared extremely well against Krejcikova on clay. Bertens is 2-0 against the Czech on the slow surface. She destroyed Krejcikova in the Nuremberg final back in May, 6-2, 6-1.
Barbora Krejcikova opened her Ericsson Open campaign in devastating fashion, recording a double bagel against Annika Beck on Tuesday. It was a huge bounce-back performance by Krejcikova who suffered a first-round exit in her last tournament in Bucharest. Things are bound to get tougher, though, for Krejcikova as standing in her way in the round of 16 is Kiki Bertens. She is 1-2 against Bertens in their head-to-head matchup. Her lone victory against Bertens came in the hard courts of Hobart back in 2015.
Krejcikova will take comfort in the fact, though, that her form on clay is improving. With her emphatic victory against Beck, Krejcikova’s record on the slow surface now stands at 19-6 this year. The Brno native will need to be at her best, though, against Bertens who has won 22 of her 28 clay matches this season.
Writer’s Prediction
Bertens (-600) cruises into the quarterfinals with a straight-sets win over Krejcikova.
