Paula Badosa Gibert - Anett Kontaveit

Paula Badosa did not face a breakpoint in defeating Varvara Gracheva, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round in 73 minutes. The ninth seed, who couldn't clear the qualifyings in last year's Ostrava, struck five more winners (16 to 11) and 11 fewer unforced errors (19 to 30) than the world no. 82.
It avenged her US Open defeat from earlier this month when she lost to Russian in the second round in straight sets. The 23-year-old, who had made just four WTA quarterfinals before 2021, will now aim to enter her eighth quarterfinal of the season with her 7-2 record in the last-16 stages.
Anett Kontaveit defeated Sorana Cirstea for the fifth time in five career encounters. She was broken four times by the Romanian but returned the favor six times to prevail 6-4, 6-4. It equaled her 2020 performance in Ostrava, which ended with a second-round loss to Sara Sorribes Tormo.
The Estonian has been a couple of notch-less impressive than her opponent. Only five of her 16 previous campaigns in the season have led to a quarterfinal, even though she has been a runner-up at the Grampians Trophy and Eastbourne, and champion in Cleveland (second career title).
Head-to-head: 0-0. There is little to separate the pair, who are both placed in the lower-end of the top 30. Anett Kontaveit has the advantage as far as experience is concerned, including owning twice as many careerwise quarterfinal appearances as well as thrice as many hard-court ones.