The Copa Claro Colsanitas tennis tournament, the WTA Tour stop in Bogota, Colombia, moves into its second day of early-round play. We didn’t have any tennis picks for Monday but there were six matches on the court. Of the matchups on the court, three of them required the full three sets to determine a winner while three of them finished in straight sets. Aleksandra Krunic, Elitsa Kostova and Sachia Vickery all moved in with relative ease, winning in two sets. However, Lara Arruabarrena, Cindy Burger and Johanna Larsson each needed to go the distance to move on.
Of note, the two seeded singles players who played on Monday advanced. Looking ahead to Tuesday, the remaining six seeds will try to follow suit on Tuesday. Here are a few of the matches on deck along with our tennis picks for the day.
Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Veronica Cepede Royg
Neither player in this all-South American matchup (Haddad Maia from Brazil, Cepede Royg from Paraguay) is particularly distinguished, so it might seem hard to find an angle on the competition. Here is the point which could offer at least a slight bit of differentiation, enough to illuminate the choice between the two: Cepede Royg came very close to beating American Shelby Rogers last week in Charleston, South Carolina. That might seem innocuous and irrelevant, but Rogers was playing very close to her home town in front of a very supportive crowd. Rogers also beat Madison Keys later in the week and had a very good tournament, reaching the quarterfinals. Cepede Royg’s loss in three sets looked a lot better in retrospect. In this match, she will not be playing in front of a crowd which cheers her errors more than her winners. That experience should give Cepede Royg the small but real nudge she needs to pull through tight situations in this match. Give Cepede Royg a modest advantage. She’s the better choice for your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Cepede Royg in three sets
Kiki Bertens vs. Nina Stojanovic
This is a matchup in which one shouldn’t overthink the result. Bertens is the player who made the French Open semifinals last year and very well could have knocked off Serena Williams if she had been healthier. Alas, an injury prevented her from being at her best, and she lost a close match which could have gone either way. She is very potent and dangerous on red clay, and that alone should give her the clear upper hand in this match.
Stojanovic is a relative unknown who is looking for a spark in her career. She has not yet managed to catch fire or do something which can bring about a new phase of her tennis journey. Bertens should be able to take care of this match without too many problems.
The one concern is Bertens form heading into this matchup. She was just 3-7 on the hard courts and is 4-9 on the year so far. That’s not particularly encouraging. However, clay is where she makes her money. She was 17-5 on the clay courts last year. Bertens is the better bet in terms of your tennis picks.
Pick: Bertens in straight sets
Jil Teichmann vs. Katerina Siniakova
This is a match which contains some mystery, in that Siniakova is not a relentlessly consistent player and could easily display the level of vulnerability which will lead to a loss. However, Siniakova is the second seed at this tournament, and what’s more is that with Darya Kasatkina winning a very unexpected clay title (her first) this past weekend in Charleston, someone such as Siniakova, who (like Kasatkina) owns a level of talent which has been noticed on tour, could be inspired enough to make a breakthrough. Who knows how far Siniakova will go this week in Bogota, but an early-round win seems like a more-than-reasonable proposition at this point. Teichmann is not imposing enough to represent the kind of challenge which will alter the balance of this match. Siniakova is the top option for your tennis picks.
Pick: Siniakova in straight sets
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