World No.5 Samantha Stosur squares off against Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic here in the Spanish Capital.

Samantha Stosur has had to endure a difficult year so far. She lost in the opening rounds at Sydney and then again in Australian Open. In February a much improved Stosur reached the finals of the Qatar Total Open, but lost to Victoria Azarenka. Her form fell once again in March and she disappointed in Miami and Indian Wells. Then in Stuttgart, the Australian lost to Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals in an exhilarating contest. She is still struggling to find the kind of  form that helped her to win the US Open in 2011.  In the first two rounds of the on-going WTA event she was stretched to three sets, which exemplifies her problems this season. She beat Cristina Mchale 2-6,6-4,6-0 in the last round.

Cetkovska has herself had quite a poor year up until now. She started her season at the Aussie Open where she lost in the second round to the dangerous - Mona Barthel. Subsequent losses at Paris, Doha and Dubai in the second, third and first rounds respectively have only added to the carnage. She is still struggling and was knocked out in Barcelona in the second round losing to Suarez Navarro. She has however made a good start to the tournament overcoming tenth seed Vera Zvonareva in the first round.

These two have only clashe once before and that came in this years' Qatar Total Open where the Aussie prevailed in straight sets. 

TennisEarth predicts the World No.5 to win in a close three setter.