WTA Bastad - Klara Zakopalova vs. Mariana Duque-Marino (13:00 BST)

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by Crunch Sports Staff

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Klara Zakopalova should see off Mariana Duque-Marino today at the WTA Bastad (credit: PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/GettyImages)

Sixth seed Klara Zakopalova takes on Mariana Duque-Marino this afternoon in the second round of the Sony Swedish Open (13:00 BST start).

Zakopalova has been in excellent form over the past couple of months and is close to reaching the top 30. Still a relatively new name to anyone but the most ardent of tennis fans, she's the new 'ova' on the scene. After making the final of a fairly small ITF event in Paris in mid-May, the Czech arrived at the French Open with plenty of confidence, but few would have predicted that she would dump out Maria Kirilenko and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before falling to eventual champion Maria Sharapova in three sets in the last sixteen.

Zakopalova can clearly play on clay, and given how open the top half of the draw is looking right now, she has a good chance of reaching this weekend's final.

If she wins today's contest they she may face third seed Anabel Medina Garrigues or 2011 finalist Johanna Larsson in the quarter-finals, but if she gets past that test she could then play Pavlyuchenkova again in the semis.

However, she'll have to improve on her first round showing which saw her sneak past qualifier Annika Beck 2-6 6-3 6-4. She should be able to raise her game enough to see off Duque-Marino, another qualifier, ranked 117 in the world.

Prediction: Zakopalova in two.

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