The second half of the Mexican swing concludes this week with the Abierto Affirme Monterrey in Monterrey.
WTA Monterrey tournament overview
This is the eighth edition of the tournament, which follows the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL In Acapulco. Former Grand Slam champions Marion Bartoli (2009) and Ana Ivanovic (2014) headline the past champions of this event. Monterrey is an International event, which is the smallest, least lucrative and lowest-rated tournaments on the WTA Tour calendar.
The defending champion is Timea Bacsinszky, but she chose not to participate after also not defending her Acapulco title by competing in Dubai instead. The field is led by Dubai champion Sara Errani, Caroline Wozniacki, three-time champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2010, 2011, 2013) and last year's finalist Caroline Garcia. The venue for the tournament is Club Sonoma.
First Quarter
Sara Errani is the top seed and comes In with tons of confidence after winning Dubai two weeks ago. She could face Acapulco finalist Dominika Cibulková In the second round, although the Slovakian might be a bit tired after her enthralling three-hour championship match with Sloane Stephens. Also in Errani's quarter is the ultra-talented Montenegrin, seventh seed Danka Kovinić. With a possibly tired Cibulková in Errani's way and Kovinić having two relatively easy matches, they should meet for a semifinal spot.
Semifinalist: Kovinic
Second quarter
Australian Open semifinalist Johanna Konta headlines this quarter, which also features Acapulco semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, Rio champion Francesca Schiavone and sixth seed Alison Van Uytvanck. This is probably the weakest quarter of the four and the winner of a likely Konta-Wickmayer match will reach the semifinals.
Semifinalist: Wickmayer
Third quarter
In contrast to the previous quarter being the weakest, this quarter is probably the toughest as it features 2015 finalist Caroline Garcia, three-time champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sydney finalist Monica Puig. Any of the three could make the semifinals as all have displayed good form on hard courts this year or have great memories of success at the event. Pavlyuchenkova gets the edge based on her outstanding history af the event.
Semifinalist: Pavlyuchenkova
Fourth Quarter
Caroline Wozniacki leads the way in this final quarter. The second seed is joined by eighth seed Timea Babos, Mirjana Lučić-Baroni and Heather Watson. While this looks to be a quarter Wozniacki should dominate, the Dane is nowhere near her best form and big hitters, whom she tends to struggle against, loom in all parts of her section. That being said, she still is the favorite to get out of this quarter.
Semifinalist: Wozniacki
Predictions:
Semifinals: Kovinic def. Wickmayer, Pavlyuchenkova def. Wozniacki
Final: Kovinic def. Pavlyuchenkova