Angelique Kerber vs. Kaja Juvan
After a thrilling week of action, we come to the final of the WTA Open Strasbourg 2022. Who will return to Roland Garros with a lot of momentum? Will it be former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber or a newbie at this stage, Kaja Juvan? Who do you think will win?
Angelique Kerber vs. Kaja Juvan
Face-to-face: Juvan 1-0
Angelique Kerber has never considered clay to be her favorite surface. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam she hasn’t won. The German also only has three professional titles, two of them under the roof of Stuttgart, which plays much faster and looks like a harder ground. His movement isn’t as effective on clay, especially in defense, the flatter backhand can’t do as much damage. Kerber made it work in Strasbourg, surviving tough three-set battles against Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Magda Linette.
Kaja Juvan is making her debut in a WTA Tour final, having lost her two previous semi-finals at Bol 2019 and Portoroz 2021. The Slovenian has had a much stronger season than Kerber, however, claiming nineteen wins prior to this event (his opponent had only two). His clay-court campaign wasn’t that impressive, but Juvan was able to pick up a good pace in Strasbourg. In the four matches leading up to the final, she didn’t drop a single set. While the first two victories could be attributed to weak opposition, the victories over Elise Mertens and Karolina Pliskova were pure class.
The two have played once before, meeting in the first round of Roland Garros 2020. Juvan, then 19, beat Kerber quite comfortably 6-3 6-3. The Slovenian has a wide repertoire of strokes which adapts very well to the dirt and her creativity, in addition to being a very natural mover, probably gives her an advantage over the former world No. 1 in such conditions. However, we can never be certain how a player will react to the pressure of their first final. For Juvan, this will be the most important match of his career. Kerber has been there many times before. I’m leaning towards the youngster, but that’s not a vote of confidence.
Prediction: Juvan in 3
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