Tennis acca tips: Ons Jabeur building championship momentum

Ons Jabeur is out to continue her resurgence on the Middle East swing in the Abu Dhabi quarter-finals.

The action across both tours is incredibly spread out with the ATP Tour in Europe and North and South America.

The WTA Tour has action in Romania and the UAE this week, headlined by the ATP 500 Abu Dhabi Open.

ATP Marseille: Ugo Humbert vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina | Pick: Davidovich Fokina

ATP Marseille: Zhizhen Zhang vs Karen Khachanov | Pick: Khachanov

ATP Cordoba: Jaume Munar vs Facundo Bagnis | Pick: Munar

ATP Cordoba: Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Federico Coria | Pick: Etcheverry

WTA Abu Dhabi: Barbora Krejcikova vs Liudmilla Samsonova | Pick: Krejcikova

WTA Abu Dhabi: Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Ons Jabeur | Pick: Jabeur

WTA Abu Dhabi: Daria Kasatkina vs Sorana Cirstea | Pick: Kasatkina

WTA Cluj-Napoca: Harriet Dart vs Nuria Parrizas Diaz | Pick: Dart

 

ATP Marseille: Ugo Humbert vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina leads this rivalry by 2-1 and meets his French Opponent a year and a day after their last clash.

Davidovich Fokina won that contest after an injury to Humbert which gave him a second win over the Frenchman.

Humbert holds the rankings edge right now and is playing at home.

However, history tells us that Davidovich Fokina has the minerals to pull this one off.

 

ATP Marseille: Zhizhen Zhang vs Karen Khachanov

Zhizhen Zhang has already pulled off one big upset this week but Karen Khachanov should see off his challenge.

This will be the first clash between these players at any level despite both being relatively prominent tour figures.

The 2024 records of these two players are very close together with Zhang only losing one more match.

Khachanov could widen that gap if he notches his fifth win of the season over his Chinese foe.

 

ATP Cordoba: Jaume Munar vs Facundo Bagnis

Jaume Munar will face Facundo Bagnis in the Cordoba Open quarterfinals on Friday, February 9.

Over the last year on clay, Munar has won 66.1% of his serve games and 32.7% of his return games.

Munar lost in the round of 32 of his previous competition, the Open Sud de France, against No 99-ranked Pedro Martinez.

Bagnis is searching for his first clay-court event championship in 2024 and is 17-10 on the surface during the last year.

 

ATP Cordoba: Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Federico Coria

Martin Etcheverry Tomas and Federico Coria faced off only once in 2019.

That happened in the Manerbio Challenger in Italy, where Frederico Coria won in three sets.

Etcheverry will be the clear favourite here given his recent form.

Coria has more tour experience but Etcheverry already has some big wins this term.

 

WTA Abu Dhabi: Barbora Krejcikova vs Liudmilla Samsonova

Barbora Krejcikova and Liudmilla Samsonova are locked at 1-1 across their two previous meetings.

The Russian won the last time they met with a strong performance that suggests she will be tough for the Czech to overcome.

Krejcikova is among the top title contenders in Abud Dhabi and Samsoniova can make a real statement against her.

Incredibly this is also a rematch taking place a year to the day since another meeting between the players in Abu Dhabi which the Czech won.

 

WTA Abu Dhabi: Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Ons Jabeur

Beatriz Haddad Maia and Ons Jabeur traded wins in 2023 to move their rivalry along.

Jabeur still leads the head-to-head 2-1 but knows the danger of Haddad Maia well.

Jabeur has won their only hard court meeting although that came indoors some five years ago now.

Both players are looking to get their season up and running in Abu Dhabi after slow starts to 2024.

 

WTA Abu Dhabi: Daria Kasatkina vs Sorana Cirstea

Daria Kasatkina and Sorana Cirstea would both love the boost of a WTA 500 semi-final at this stage of their campaign.

Both players had put in excellent performances up to this point, winning the previous two rounds. 

On the head-to-head record, this is the third time both players have met in their careers. 

Their most recent matchup took place at the French Open in 2021, which Sorana Cirstea won.

 

WTA Cluj-Napoca: Harriet Dart vs Nuria Parrizas Diaz

Nuria Parrizas Diaz will face British qualifier Harriet Dart in the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open. 

The winner will face either Camila Osorio, Karolina Pliskova, or Sara Errani in the semifinals. 

Harriet Dart beat Elisabetta Cocciarretto in three sets in the second round.

It was the first time she had dropped a set in the competition and had to come back from behind to win.