The WTA Auckland 2025 continues on Wednesday, January 1 with the start of its second round matches. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Auckland.
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Naomi Osaka v Julia Grabher Preview
Head-to-Head: Osaka and Grabher have never faced off before this.
Osaka kick-started the new season with a top notch performance in her opening round match against Lina Glushko. In a match that lasted an hour and 21 minutes, Osaka faced just one break point and while she was broken off that, she completed a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
This follows her desire to return to the top 10 having begun the season ranked 57th in the world.
And Osaka doesn’t look like she should have too many problems in the second round either as she takes on a player who has fallen to 470th on the WTA rankings chart.
Facing the 22-year-old Leyre Romero Gormaz in the first round, Grabher was forced to come back from being a set down before winning 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7). Rather fascinatingly, Grabher saved a match-point in the final tie-breaker, lost one of her own before clinching it off the second one.
She will need to do a lot better if she would like to test Osaka here but as things stand right now, the former Australian Open and US Open winner shouldn’t have too many problems here.
Osaka v Grabher prediction: Osaka to win: 1/4
Clara Tauson v Sofia Kenin Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been two previous meetings between these two players with Tauson winning their third round at the 2024 French Open and Kenin responding with a victory in Tokyo late in 2024 as well.
Tauson had gone into her opening round encounter as a 1/2 favourite against Lucrezia Stefanini and delivered just goods. She was on court for a mere hour and 17 minutes before winning 6-2, 6-3 and marching into the second round.
And while she would be a tad concerned about her serving that saw her get broken three times in the encounter, Tauson will be relieved with the way she crashed past her opponent’s service on seven occasions.
Her opponent for this second round match, Kenin, did face some difficulties in the opening set of her opener against Xiyu Wang but came back strongly to complete a straight-set win.
Kenin needed an hour and 30 minutes to win it 7-6 (5), 6-1 and will now need to do a much better job than that against Tauson. The good news for Kenin is she had defeated Tauson in a hardcourt competition as recently as two months ago and should take that confidence into this encounter.
Tauson v Kenin prediction: Kenin to win: 27/20
Rebecca Marino v Bernarda Pera Preview
Head-to-Head: World number 71 Pera and the 102nd-ranked Marino have never faced off in a competitive match before this.
34-year-old Marino is looking to make another comeback into the top 100 and may be even the top 50 of the WTA rankings charts having fallen to outside the top 100 at the moment.
Having finished the 2022 season ranked 63rd, she fell to 176 with a year and while she has now managed to get closer to the top 100, there’s a lot of work still to be done.
Marino was a slight underdog going into her opener here against Lulu Sun who had a breakout year in 2024. Fortunately, the Canadian was able to come through in a hard-fought match, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in an hour and 46 minutes.
Pera was once ranked 27th but hasn’t quite been able to replicate that kind of form again. As a result she has now settled in at 71st which meant that an opening round win here is something she would have loved to get under her belt for the season.
That’s exactly what she did against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, despite somewhat of a fight that her opponent put up in the second set. In a match lasting an hour and 39 minutes in which Pera lost her serve just once, she won 6-2, 7-5.
Anticipating a hard-fought encounter here.
Marino v Pera prediction: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Katie Volynets v Ann Li Preview
Head-to-Head: While they have never faced off in the main draw of any competition, there was one meeting in the qualifiers of the Charleston Open last season. Volynets had won that in three.
Volynets is slowly improving her ranking having ended a season in the top 100 for the first time in 2024. In fact, thanks to some of her solid performances at the WTA 125 level and a third round appearance at the China Open late last season she has climbed up to 58th in the world.
The American had a tough initiation to this season though, needing three hours and seven minutes to get past her opening round opponent Erika Andreeva.
While Volynets was broken just twice and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, she lost the tie-breaker despite having a match-point there. She came back to win the decider with ease.
Li had gone into her opener against Sloane Stephens as a strong 3/5 favourite but less than an hour into the encounter she was already a set down. It took her another nearly hour and a half to wear down Stephens and win in three.
Her form coming into this season looked solid but more so in the lower circuit. Against Volyets, she will need to up the ante in a bid to upset the odds.
Volynets v Ann Li prediction: Volynets to win: 3/4
Other Auckland Open 2025 Predictions of the Day
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