WTA Strasbourg Day 1 Predictions Including Elina Svitolina vs Diane Parry

Anhelina Kalinina vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Head-to-head: First meeting

Anhelina Kalinina couldn’t defend her points for making the Rome final, but the Ukrainian is still playing much better than a few months ago right now. Back then she was the seed everyone wanted to draw in many events, now she’s back to being more of a dangerous floater. Let’s see if she turns out a threat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova as well. It’s the Russian veteran who has a much bigger game and should be able to play front-foot tennis here.
Prediction: Pavlyuchenkova in 2

Karolina Pliskova vs Clara Burel

Head-to-head: Burel 1-0

Karolina Pliskova has only played one tournament on clay this year so far and while her early results in 2024 seemed like a breath of fresh air, the Czech needs to show she can still do it on a surface that she used to be very good on despite her movement. Clara Burel was in the semifinals in Strasbourg last year and has already beaten a few top players with her neat all-round game and dangerous forehand. This is far from obvious and Pliskova will need to bring a really strong level to survive.
Prediction: Burel in 3

Diane Parry vs Elina Svitolina

Head-to-head: First meeting

Elina Svitolina is on an 8-match winning streak in Strasbourg with titles in the 2020 and 2023 editions. It’s a good moment to reflect on how she’s been playing the last 12 months or so with this event being where her comeback started big-time last year. Some of the magic seems to have worn off, but after all she had three match points against Aryna Sabalenka in Rome last week. Former junior No. 1 Diane Parry isn’t a pushover in the opening round here. It’s tough to go against Svitolina at this venue though and she looked great in the Italian capital.
Prediction: Svitolina in 2