Belinda Bencic isn’t afraid of playing in iconic stadiums like this one in Stuttgart, Germany. She has a bundle of big match, big stage experience even at a tender age and she came through those experiences with happy, positive memories. She's won the junior French and Wimbledon Grand slam titles. Right now she is feeling great about herself and playing with a confidence.

The matchup:

Of course we all know Navarro’s a really good mover and can really test her opponent's movement with the way she manipulates the ball around the court using her top spin as a measure for control. She manufactures angles that have her opponent's off balance and out of their strike zone.  Bencic however is a pretty good mover herself. Infact, her game centres around her movement. Will Carla struggle to hurt her as much as as the way she does the weaker movers on the WTA circuit? As they're both clearly quite good movers and the clay here is quick, the crux difference is going to be who has the bigger firepower.  For us that is clearly Bencic. Bencic is able to hurt players with her backhand, by using her ability to lean onto it and take it early. She strikes through slow surfaces with it really well, so we imagine it's going to do even more damage here, cross court or down the line. We’ve also got to remember Navarro can drop into a little bit of passive rhythm with her game from the back now and again. We see these loopy backhands and forehands with no pace and these are not balls Bencic is going to shy away from taking on the front foot, pushing forward and punishing. These are going to play straight into Bencic's back-hand’s zone for striking.

Navarro may also be semi deflated, given the way she was absolutely obliterated by Serena. Some girls wouldn't be, but we just feel she has the type of personality and character that means she may be. Just our opinion of course, but she isn’t likely to play with momentum. Bencic has the advantage of already playing a match here, plus a match in Charleston, so she is going to be more surface warm than Carla. This is Navarro’s first match back on the dirt this season we believe. So she has an extra little edge in there too.

Prediction: Everything combined makes this the perfect storm for an upset (on paper) Belinda to come through in a closely fought three sets.