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The season's first WTA 1000 tournament, the Qatar Open, is currently underway in Doha.
The first day of the tournament saw some surprising results. Diana Shnaider, who won her maiden WTA title at the Hua Hin Championships over a week ago, lost 7-6 (2), 6-4 to qualifier Erika Andreeva in the first round.
2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens slumped to a 6-3, 6-2 defeat against Sorana Cirstea in her opener. Danielle Collins knocked out 13th seed Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets as well. Marta Kostyuk, Zhu Lin, and Katerina Siniakova were among the other victors on Sunday.
More players will be eyeing to join them in the second round on Monday. Here's a look at the predictions for some of the key matches on Day 2 of the Qatar Open:
#1 - Victoria Azarenka vs Magdalena Frech
Azarenka's first tournament of the year was the Brisbane International. She defeated Anna Kalinskaya, Clara Burel, and Jelena Ostapenko before losing 6-2, 6-4 to Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
Azarenka, a semifinalist at last year's Australian Open, could only make it to the fourth round this time, where she lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Dayana Yastremska. Frech's already got a couple of matches under her belt at the Qatar Open as she had to go through the qualifying rounds.
Frech recorded wins over Maria Timofeeva and Kamila Rakhimova to make the main draw. Before that, she failed to make it past the qualifiers of the Lizn Open but did reach the fourth round of the Australian Open, the first time she did so at a Major.
Azarenka is a two-time Qatar Open champion, having won the titles in 2012 and 2013 over Samantha Stosur and Serena Williams in the finals, respectively. She has been in a pretty decent form this year and given Frech's inconsistent results, the former World No. 1 has a good shot at moving further.
Predicted winner: Victoria Azarenka
#2 - Karolina Pliskova vs Anna Kalinskaya
Kalinskaya had a breakthrough moment last month as she reached her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open. She came up short against eventual runner-up Qinwen Zheng as she lost to her 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1.
For Pliskova, her time at the season's first Major was rather brief, as Elena Rybakina sent her packing in the first round itself. This caused her ranking to take a tumble as she fell to No. 78, her lowest in a decade.
But Pliskova bounced back in style as she won her 17th career title at the Transylvania Open over the weekend. She defeated players like Sara Errani and Camila Osorio en route to the final and scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ana Bogdan in the title round.
However, Pliskova contested the final on Sunday evening in Romania and will take to the court in Qatar on Monday. If she's not too exhausted by last week's efforts and the relatively short turnaround, she has the game to win this. Otherwise, Kalinskaya has the upper hand in this match-up.
Predicted winner: Anna Kalinskaya
#3 - Barbora Krejcikova vs Anastasia Potapova
Krejcikova was upset by Kalinskaya in the first round of the Adelaide International, but the Czech recovered nicely the following week. She made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in both singles and doubles.
Krejcikova was defeated by eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-3 in singles. She continued her good run of form and reached the quarterfinals of last week's Abu Dhabi Open as well. The Czech was ousted by Liudmila Samsonova, who bested her 7-5, 6-4.
An injury forced Potapova to cut short her campaign at the Brisbane International, where she retired halfway through her quarterfinal clash. She wasn't fully fit by the Australian Open started and bowed out in the first round.
Potapova's title defense at the Linz Open came to an end in the quarterfinals against Ekaterina Alexandrova. The two have split their previous two meetings evenly, but given Krejcikova's form, she has a chance to surge ahead in this rivalry.
Predicted winner: Barbora Krejcikova
#4 - Daria Kasatkina vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Pavlyuchenkova's time Down Under yielded mixed results. A quarterfinal showing at the Adelaide International was followed by a second-round exit from the Australian Open. She performed better at the Linz Open after that as she reached the semifinals there.
Kasatkina started the season strongly as she first made it to the last eight at the Brisbane International and then the final of the Adelaide International. Her momentum came to a halt at the Australian Open where she was dumped out in the second round.
Kasatkina regrouped and reached her second final of the year at last week's Abu Dhabi Open, but lost 6-1, 6-4 to Rybakina. She leads Pavlyuchenkova 4-1 in the head-to-head and hasn't lost to her since 2015. Based on her form and record against her compatriot, the 26-year-old will be expected to win.
Predicted winner: Daria Kasatkina
