Kalinskaya in straight sets.
With our microphones hot and the Ningbo Open heating up, let's talk about that anticipated Round of 16 clash between Anna Kalinskaya and Yue Yuan. Oh, who am I kidding? It's about as anticipated as a tooth extraction, but here we go.
Kalinskaya comes into this match with a tournament seed of 7 while Yuan is, well, long story short, she isn't. It surprises no one, not even my snoring Shih Tzu, that Kalinskaya is the favorite here. If you've been following along at home, you'll see she put the screws to Hon and Bondár, pulling wins while losing only a single set against Hon. Still, she's human (I checked), and has shown a few moments of vulnerability, dropping matches to Alexandrova and Starodubtsewa.
On the other side of the net, Yue Yuan is out here playing like someone turned off the gravity; she's been sporadically floating on clouds then crashing hard earthbound. She definitely turned on the afterburners with that victory over Tomljanović, but come on, her inconsistency showed with her losses to Muchová and Raducanu. Were they tough opponents? Absolutely, but with victories like a wild ride of a match against Burel, we can't help but scratch our bald heads, can we?
But let's cut to the chase. Despite occasionally playing like she's got frying pans for hands, Kalinskaya is overall looking strong and confident. Sure, Yuan might pull out some surprises like a magician from a hat, but given Kalinskaya's form and her seed advantage, I'm picking her to seal this one.
Albert’s Prediction: Kalinskaya in straight sets.