Simona Halep, number 1 seed on the Palermo WTA slag
“Internazionali Femminili di Palermo” is a WTA International tournament hosted by Country Time Club from Palermo (Italy), held on outdoor clay, with prizes totaling $ 275,000 and which has been won over time by the Romanian Irina Spîrlea in singles (twice), respectively by Ruxandra Dragomir in doubles (once).
Simona Halep (ROU) is the main favorite of the WTA tournament in Palermo, receiving a 3.50 odds to go home with the trophy! The Romanian was present on the Sicilian clay only once, ten years ago, when she lost in the decisive set the dispute from the inaugural round with the Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai (5-7 6-4 2-6).
Petra Martic (# 15 WTA, CRO), the most dangerous of the opponents, is (by far) the second favorite with a odds of 8.00 and is followed by the semifinalist of the previous edition of the French Open, Johanna Konta (# 14 WTA, GBR) with 10.00 and by last season’s Roland Garros finalist, Marketa Vondrousova (# 18 WTA, CZE) also with 10.00! The top # 5 of favorites is completed by Maria Sakkari (# 20 WTA, GRE) with odds of 12.00.
Halep has a positive record with both Petra Martic and the British Johanna Konta, and she has never faced the Greek Maria Sakkari in the past! The most worrying aspect for the Romanian comes when we talk about the direct matches with Marketa Vondrousova, both disputed and lost last year on the outdoor hard drive from Indian Wells (2-6 6-3 2-6), respectively the clay from Rome – Masters ( 6-2 5-7 3-6), each in the decisive set.
Sorana Cîrstea (# 75 WTA), Irina Begu (# 81 WTA), and Patricia Țig (# 85 WTA) will be the other romances present in the Sicilian tournament qualifiers, while Irina Bara and Jacqueline Cristian will be reserved for these qualifications, in the case in which any of the confirmed tennis players will not honor with the presence, for various reasons. All our players have achieved remarkable results on clay throughout their careers and can easily qualify on the mainboard if they look ok (first of all) physically! I would not be surprised to see any of them even in the higher phases.
Jil Belen Teichmann (# 63 WTA, SUI) is the singles title champion, after a surprising victory in the final with the Dutch Kiki Bertens (7-6 6-2); I don’t know the exact reason, but the Swiss will not be present at this edition and will not be able to defend her trophy. She was present during the “Elle Spirit Open” demonstration tournament in July and did not appear to have any physical problems (she did not give up in any of the four matches in which she was involved).
The main news about COVID-19 is related to the tests to which both the players and their staff will be subjected as follows: the first test will be performed immediately after landing in Palermo, and the next four days away! I strongly hope to have a trouble-free tour from this point of view.
