Angie’s next disappointment in Linz?
The Australian Open 2024, the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2024 calendar year, came to a disappointingly early end not only for Angelique Kerber but also for Lucia Bronzetti. Both players failed directly in the first round and therefore had plenty of time to prepare for the 33rd edition of the Linz Open. Inevitably, one of the two women will continue in the second round, where the seeded Elise Mertens is already waiting. The bookmakers think it is more likely that Angelique Kerber will win the opening match against Lucia Bronzetti
However, it must be said that the three-time Grand Slam winner from Germany is clearly lagging behind her former form after her maternity leave. This is also reflected in her record. Since her comeback, Angie has lost five out of six singles matches on the WTA Tour. Her opponent’s record is only marginally better, with just one win from four singles matches in 2024. Nevertheless, our prediction for Angelique Kerber against Lucia Bronzetti leans towards the Italian
Lucia Bronzetti is in better rhythm overall and has not only made visible progress in the WTA world rankings in the last two years, but has also developed significantly as a player. In our opinion, it should therefore be a duel of equals on the indoor hard courts at the Design Center Linz. As a result, there is only value in betting on the supposed underdog to win.
We therefore recommend betting that the German will also stumble in the first round in Linz, where she once won the tournament in 2013
Angelique Kerber – statistics & current form
Current position in the world rankings: 607
Position in the seeding list: Wildcard
The 36-year-old German Angelique Kerber wants to give it another go and has returned to the WTA Tour for the 2024 season after her maternity leave. However, the Bremen-born player now has to start almost from scratch again. The three-time Grand Slam winner has dropped to 607th in the WTA world rankings.
However, Angie still has a big name and is therefore of great interest to numerous tournament directors. This is another reason why the player, who already won the Linz Open in 2013, was given a wildcard for the women’s singles in Upper Austria
Angelique Kerber continues to work on her comeback
At the Design Center Linz, Angelique Kerber wants to finally arrive in the still young 2024 season, which has so far been dominated by failures. At the United Cup, which ultimately went to Team Germany, the 36-year-old lost four of her five singles matches and only narrowly beat Australia’s Alja Tomljanovic (WTA 290) 2:1.
Meanwhile, Angie suffered a first-round exit against Danielle Rose Collings (WTA 62) at the Australian Open, where she once celebrated overall victory in 2016, which was the starting point of her three-year run of success. The Kiel native has now lost five of her six singles matches in 2024
Can Angelique Kerber still keep up with the world’s best?
It is all the more surprising that, in the run-up to the opening match between Angelique Kerber and Lucia Bronzetti, the odds are now swinging so clearly in the direction of the German, who has yet to prove that she can still keep up with the world’s top players after her maternity leave at the advanced age of 36.
At least she is not jumping in at the deep end in Linz. Not only does Angie know the court very well, but she has also faced Lucia Bronzetti before, who she beat 2-0 (6-2 and 6-3) at a grass court tournament in Bad Homburg in 2022
Lucia Bronzetti – statistics & current form
Current position in the world rankings: 58
Position in the seeding list: unseeded
The 25-year-old Italian Lucia Bronzetti spent the majority of her career on the third-tier ITF Women’s Circuit before making the late leap to the WTA Tour in 2021. However, she has yet to make her mark on the most important women’s division in tennis.
The player from Rimini made her first appearance at a major tournament at the 2022 Australian Open, where she promptly reached the second round, where she was only beaten by the eventual overall winner Ashleigh Barty.
Lucia Bronzetti was still without resounding success in 2024
This year, Lucia Bronzetti failed to reach the first round of the Australian Open. But at least she managed to win her first singles title on the WTA Tour in 2023, when the 25-year-old won the Morocco Open in Rabat.
The Italian now wants to measure herself against this triumph on a WTA 250 in the 2024 season. It is true that she did not make the seedings in Linz. Nevertheless, the Emilian is nominally one of the more interesting names in the field of participants, although she only won one of four singles matches in the 2024 calendar year in the run-up to the Linz Open
Lucia Bronzetti with a noticeable leap in the last two years
However, it should also be noted that Lucia Bronzetti has always had to deal with big names in 2024. For example, she lost to Aryna Sabalenka (WTA 2) at the preparatory tournament in Brisbane and was narrowly beaten 2-1 by Lesia Tsurenko (WTA 33) in the first round of the Australian Open 2024.
Although the 25-year-old is no longer of an age to be considered a promising talent, she has clearly matured. The Italian has climbed over 100 places in the WTA world rankings in the last two years. Further good results from the player from Rimini should therefore only be a matter of time.
Angelique Kerber – Lucia Bronzetti Direct comparison / H2H record
Head to head: 1:0
The two players have already crossed paths once before and their encounter dates back to the second round of the Bad Homburg Open 2022. On grass, Angelique Kerber beat Lucia Bronzetti 2:0 in two sets (6:2 and 6:3)
Angelique Kerber – Lucia Bronzetti tip
While we expect a match of equals in this opening match, the bookmakers’ odds on Angelique Kerber against Lucia Bronzetti are tipped in favor of the three-time Grand Slam winner from Germany. In view of the fact that Angie has lost five out of six singles matches since her comeback, this seems extremely risky to us, especially as her challenger from Italy, who is eleven years younger, has made great progress recently and should be in much better rhythm.
It is therefore logical to predict that Angelique Kerber will win against Lucia Bronzetti. After all, this supposed underdog bet has a positive expected value from a probability of 40 percent, which we consider to be fulfilled in a 50:50 situation.
