Mihaela Buzarnescu continues her impressive run in Linz. Regardless of this Friday’s outcome, the 29-year-old already secured her career-high ranking next week with an unprecedented appearance in the top-100. Adding to this, Buzarnescu is playing her first ever quarter-finals on the WTA Tour. Taking a look now at Mihaela’s campaign on this event, the Romanian qualifier reaches this stage of the competition after saving two match points on the previous round against Alja Tomljanovic.
Playing in her first WTA tournament in over six months, Belinda Bencic is already in the quarter-finals at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz. Known as one of the most promising young players on the WTA Tour, the former world no.7 is trying to return to her best level after several months away from competition due to a wrist injury. Despite long absence, Bencic proved too strong for Kirsten Flipkens and Lara Arruabarrena on this event.
Despite Buzarnescu’s brilliant results on this tournament, it won’t be easy for the Romanian to overcome such as talented player as Bencic. On the other hand, the Swiss needs to win as many points as she can since she’s currently ranked outside the top 200. Having said that, it’s not surprising to see Belinda as the main favourite to win this match at 53/100 at Pinnacle while William Hill offers 8/5 for Mihaela’s victory. For those who want to take a higher risk, Bencic’s -3 game handicap at 9/10 at Pinnacle is also an interesting approach for this encounter.
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