Lee So-Ra vs. Maria Kirilenko
Nadia Petrova vs. Lourdes Domínguez Lino
Galina Voskoboeva vs. Kaia Kanepi
Tamira Paszek vs. Carla Suárez Navarro
Eleni Daniilidou vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
Sílvia Soler-Espinosa vs. Kiki Bertens
Guangzhou:
Bojana Jovanovski vs. Chanelle Scheepers
Peng Shuai vs. Nudnina Luangnam
Laura Robson vs. Zheng Jie
Alizé Cornet vs. Olga Govortsova
Duan Ying-Ying vs. Sorana Cirstea
Chang Kai-Chen vs. Hsieh Su-Wei
Urszula Radwanska vs. Mandy Minella
Zheng Saisai vs. Mathilde Johansson
Match focus:
Galina Voskoboeva vs. Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi is back in action this week in Seoul and she practically got a bye in her first round over a local wildcard. This is where she faces her real test in Galina Voskoboeva. True enough, Galina is not a world-beater but she can hold her ground against a lot of players. Kaia cannot afford to be rusty and she would need to be mentally tough to close out the match. Even when match-healthy, Kaia often has difficulty closing out matches so I don't think it will be any different here.
Pick: Kanepi in 3 sets
Eleni Daniilidou vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
2 players who play a different game from the rest of the tour meets in this first round encounter. Daniilidou is an expert at irritating her opponents with paceless slices and suddenly accelerating to unleash a forehand rocket. She will face an equally wilt opponent in Martinez Sanchez, whose serve-and-volley style frustrates the hell out of 90% of the tour. Interesting note is that Maria Jose is the defending champion here so she obviously enjoys playing in Korea. Besides that, she seems to be fully recovered from her injury that kept her out of action in the beginning of the year. I expect the Spaniard to take this match and maybe defend her title.
Pick: Martinez Sanchez in 2 sets
Bojana Jovanovski vs. Chanelle Scheepers
Another defending champion in action here as Chanelle Scheepers takes on Baku winner, Bojana Jovanovski. These 2 have never met before so it will be interesting to see how the result will be. Chanelle got a virtual bye in her first round, facing local unknown and demolishing her 6-0 6-3. On the other hand, Bojana took out a slumping Timea Babos easily as well. None of these matches show how well they are playing right now because frankly, their opponents kind of suck. I do believe that Jovanovski's confidence is higher at the moment, buoyed by her recent win in Baku. This will be a close match to call.
Pick: Jovanovski in 3 tight sets
Laura Robson vs. Zheng Jie
Laura Robson will take on local favourite, Zheng Jie for a place in the quarterfinals. Robson just finished an impressive US Open and will be looking forward to building that momentum. Laura has all the weapons but Zheng Jie jas the ability to scramble around the court to make Laura hit that one more ball. Will Laura be able to continue that winning habit or will the crowd support for Jie get to her? Judging by how fearless Laura was in handling a partisan crowd in US Open, I don't expect problems with the distractions and predict a good showing for the young Brit.
Pick: Robson in 2 sets
Sure win bets: Maria Kirilenko, Nadia Petrova, Peng Shuai
Upset alert: Zheng Jie, Tamira Paszek
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