Alycia Parks and Anett Kontaveit meet in the first round of the 2023 tennis Italian Open. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
Alycia Parks is coming off a third round exit in Madrid, easily her best run in a WTA 1000 event. Of course, Parks is still a bit new to the main stage of singles play at 22 years old, and this will be her first appearance in the Italian Open. This has been a breakout year for Parks overall, which includes a title at the Lyon Open. Parks has lost 5 of her last 7 tournament openers since Austin back in February. However, Parks recent run in Spain should give her new-found confidence. Parks has split her last 10 matches on clay court.
Anett Kontaveit lost her opening match in Madrid and has split her 10 matches overall going back to January. Outside of 3 wins at the Billie Jean King Cup, Kontaveit hasn’t been able to string anything together this year and is fresh off a quick loss to Karolina Muchova where she had issues with her serve. Of course, Kontaveit is returning from a back injury that ended her season short and played a role into a big drop in the rankings. The good news for Kontaveit is she’s no stranger to the Italian Open, as she has a 64 percent winning percentage and made a quarterfinal and semifinal trip. Kontaveit has split her last 10 matches on clay court.
There’s no match history between these 2 players.
Parks and the plus money is intriguing, considering she’s in the better form overall and should have a higher level of confidence. I’m still siding with Kontaveit due to the experience edge, as she’s been here done that, especially in this tournament. If there’s one spot that can get Kontaveit back on track, it would be here.
I’ll lay the juice with Kontaveit.
