Petra Kvitova vs Zarina Diyas Prediction

Czech Petra Kvitova, currently 6^th on the WTA ranking list (5^th seed in the tournament) is playing against Kazakh Zarina Diyas, currently the 96^th player in the world.

One time Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova has a difficult draw in this year’s Roland Garros. She could play in-form Ana Ivanovic in the 4^th round, who leads in head to head matches 4:3, and if she manages to beat the Serb, Romanian Simona Halep could be her opponent in the quarterfinals. Halep leads 2:0 in head to head matches, and they played against each other very recently, 2 weeks ago in Madrid, when Halep won their semifinal clash.

But, her first opponent could prove very tough, even though it seems this should be a “walk in the park” for Kvitova.

Zarina Diyas is a young Kazakh player, who has been playing professionally since she was 15. It is interesting that she beat Kvitova the only time they’ve played, in 2009, when Zarina was only 16. That was a clay court match in ITF tournament in Prague, which Diyas comfortably won 2:0. That was huge surprise, since Kvitova was much better ranked at the time, and played in a home tournament.

That match could prove very valuable to the young Kazakh, and she certainly thinks that she can beat Kvitova again.

Both players have had a solid season up to date, especially Diyas. She was crippled by injuries throughout her career, she had some retirements this season too, most recently last week in Strasbourg, and it is clear that she would have a much better rank if that wasn’t the case. She made it to the 3^rd round in Australian Open after qualifiers, where she lost to eventual quarterfinalist, Simona Halep.

Petra Kvitova had her best result in the season two weeks ago, when she reached the semifinals in Madrid, but after that, she made an early exit in Rome, losing her first match to Zhang.

Neither Kvitova nor Diyas prefer clay, they play much better on hard courts, but this surface should favor Diyas a bit more. Zarina is shorter and much faster than Petra, and it is expected that she will try to stay in the rally as much as possible, and wait for an unforced error to come.

Kvitova, as a left-handed player with a powerful serve and forehand is a tough opponent to anyone on any surface, when she is in the zone, and doesn’t miss often. But, also, Kvitova is an unstable player, with lots of ups and downs in her game, and it is sometimes hard to predict the outcome of her matches.

Head to head

Zarina Diyas is leading 1:0. Match was played in Prague in 2009, and the result was 6:4, 6:2.

Prediction

It is expected that Kvitova will win in a tight match.