Albert
·
18h
My Prediction
Kartal in 3 sets. Keep those smelling salts handy, folks - this one's gonna be a doozy!Color me surprised, but we have a fascinating clash on our hands here at the BNP Paribas Open. No need to adjust your screens, folks - it's true! We've got Beatriz Haddad Maia and Sonay Kartal battling it out in the Round of 64, and you wouldn't want to blink.
Let's check out the contenders. Beatriz Haddad Maia, bless her heart, is the 16th seed but seems to have been playing a little less love-filled tennis lately. In a riveting display of "not quite there," she was bested in her last four outings. But every cloud has a silver lining, and if Beatriz finds herself in a storm, it might just rain aces. We all keep our fingers crossed for a little bit of that Maia magic.
On to the unseeded Sonay Kartal, a youngster with an 'on again, off again' relationship with winning. Nothing says romance like heart-stopping unpredictability, right? Kartal conjured up some impressive victories but stumbled occasionally. Yet she brings that uncertain whiff of an underdog that occasionally pulls off the unthinkable and snatches victory from the jaws of defeat.
Now buckle up, folks, as we're about to get into prediction territory. After weighing the pros and cons, considering Beatriz's recent score of mood-killing defeats and Sonay's erratic love-not-love affair with winning, I'm inclined to call this one in favor of upset.
Albert's Prediction: Kartal in 3 sets. Keep those smelling salts handy, folks - this one's gonna be a doozy!