Game plan

Klara Koukalova v Maja Chwalinska

Every number combines what Klara Koukalova does well with what Maja Chwalinska allows, each measured against the tour average and shrunk toward it when the sample is thin. Flip perspective

Forecast

Klara Koukalova wins, best of 3 3%90%: 0%–22% · best of 5: 1%

Serve points won 42.8% / 57.1% Klara / Maja · tour 55.0%

Strengths only, no similarity priors 3%serve 42.8% / 57.1%

Each player's serve and return strength is fitted against every opponent they were charted against, so a record built on weak opponents counts for less. At least one of them is no longer active or has too little charted in the last three seasons, so both are compared on their careers. The result is then nudged by Klara Koukalova's record against Maja Chwalinska's tactical lookalikes and in their charted head-to-heads. A game-by-game Markov chain turns point odds into match odds; the 90% range covers the uncertainty in the two strengths, not the nudges. Charted matches lean toward big events, so treat this as a scouting estimate, not a betting line.

Serve plan

The share of points the server wins when a first serve lands in that direction (hover a rate for its 90% interval; ± is the 90% margin). "Matchup" combines the server's rate with how this returner handles that serve. "Optimal" is the mix that wins most against this returner once they start reading a habit, at the response measured across the tour, and only within the range servers' habits actually vary. The gain over the current mix is how exploitable that mix is.

Klara Koukalova serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Klara wins	v Maja	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	46%	56%	58%	47.1%±10.7	46%
Body	27%	51%	57%	50.6%±13.4	42% ▲
T	27%	50%	62%	43.0%±13.2	12% ▼

Optimal v Maja Chwalinska: +0.2±1.3 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving body every time would read +3.6 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Klara wins	v Maja	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	14%	57%	59%	49.7%±15.1	17% ▲
Body	23%	52%	53%	49.0%±13.5	8% ▼
T	63%	65%	58%	58.4%±10.7	75% ▲

Optimal v Maja Chwalinska: +0.5±1.2 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +3.4 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Maja Chwalinska serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Maja wins	v Klara	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	26%	62%	63%	58.1%±12.0	41% ▲
Body	28%	55%	59%	57.3%±12.9	13% ▼
T	46%	65%	69%	65.9%±11.5	46%

Optimal v Klara Koukalova: +0.6±1.3 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +4.5 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Maja wins	v Klara	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	53%	60%	67%	61.4%±11.6	68% ▲
Body	22%	53%	62%	58.8%±13.8	7% ▼
T	26%	67%	59%	61.8%±12.9	25%

Optimal v Klara Koukalova: +0.4±1.2 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +0.8 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Return plan

Value of each return, in points per 100 returns against an average return of the same serve (direction, court, surface): the tour's result with that return, the returner's own edge with it, and what this server gives up when it comes back to that side. Returns with no charted direction are left out, so values compare with each other rather than with zero. Depth isn't a choice here: missed returns have no depth. Serve quality isn't charted, so a block through the middle partly reflects the serve that forced it.

Klara Koukalova returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Maja	Value
FH through the middle	52%	+4.2	+0.8	+0.2	+5.1±3.1
FH crosscourt	37%	+5.3	+2.1	+2.7	+10.1±4.3
FH down the line	11%	+1.5	+2.2	+3.2	+6.9±4.1

Lean FH crosscourt: +2.9±3.2 per 100 returns v the current mix (81 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Maja	Value
BH through the middle	46%	+6.0	+0.9	+2.1	+9.0±2.7
BH crosscourt	31%	+7.7	+1.8	+1.3	+10.8±3.4
BH down the line	24%	+2.2	−1.0	+2.7	+3.9±4.3

Lean BH crosscourt: +2.5±2.9 per 100 returns v the current mix (59 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Maja	Value
BH crosscourt	60%	+1.5	+0.9	−0.1	+2.2±3.6
BH through the middle	30%	−2.6	+0.6	+1.4	−0.7±2.6
BH down the line	10%	−0.5	+1.3	−1.4	−0.7±3.9

Lean BH crosscourt: +1.2±1.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (50 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

Maja Chwalinska returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Klara	Value
FH through the middle	41%	+4.2	+3.2	+0.8	+8.1±3.2
FH crosscourt	21%	+5.3	+3.3	+2.0	+10.6±4.2
FH slice through the middle	17%	−6.7	+1.6	±0.0	−5.2±1.6
FH down the line	14%	+1.5	+1.1	+2.3	+4.9±4.4
FH slice crosscourt	7%	−6.6	+1.5	±0.0	−5.2±1.4

Lean FH crosscourt: +5.7±3.6 per 100 returns v the current mix (111 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Klara	Value
BH through the middle	43%	+6.0	+1.2	+0.3	+7.5±2.9
BH crosscourt	33%	+7.7	+2.4	+5.7	+15.9±3.4
BH down the line	16%	+2.2	+3.6	+1.1	+6.9±4.5
BH slice through the middle	3%	−6.2	−0.5	±0.0	−6.8±1.2
BH slice crosscourt	3%	−4.2	+0.1	±0.0	−4.1±1.3

Lean BH crosscourt: +6.9±2.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (236 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Klara	Value
BH through the middle	31%	−2.6	+1.6	−0.2	−1.3±2.6
BH crosscourt	29%	+1.5	±0.0	+1.6	+3.1±3.3
FH through the middle	18%	−2.7	−1.1	−0.2	−4.1±2.3
BH down the line	11%	−0.5	−1.3	+1.6	−0.2±4.6
FH inside-in	5%	+0.7	+0.5	+2.7	+3.9±3.5

Lean BH crosscourt: +2.9±2.5 per 100 returns v the current mix (110 returns charted)

Rally plan

Edge, in points per 100 shots: the hitter's skill with the shot (own) plus how much the receiver usually gives up against it (theirs), both measured against the tour average on clay. Each player's clay record is shrunk toward their all-surface one, so a thin sample on it moves the numbers only a little.

Klara Koukalova

Favour

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
BH to their backhand · return	+6.7±4.8	+3.0	+3.7
BH to the middle · return	+3.7±2.8	±0.0	+3.8
FH to their backhand · rally	+1.6±4.6	+0.9	+0.7
FH to the middle · return	+1.5±3.3	+1.4	+0.1
FH to their forehand · return +1	+0.8±4.9	+1.5	−0.8
FH to their forehand · rally	−0.7±4.5	+0.1	−0.8

Avoid

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
BH to their backhand · rally	−7.2±4.2	−5.8	−1.4
FH to their forehand · serve +1	−6.4±5.4	−3.8	−2.6
FH to the middle · rally	−4.2±2.9	−1.9	−2.3
BH to the middle · rally	−2.1±2.6	−2.5	+0.3
FH to their forehand · rally	−0.7±4.5	+0.1	−0.8

Maja Chwalinska

Favour

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to their forehand · rally	+4.9±4.5	+4.1	+0.7
FH to the middle · return	+3.6±3.2	+2.3	+1.3
FH to their backhand · rally	+3.1±3.9	+1.6	+1.6
FH to the middle · rally	+2.5±2.7	+1.0	+1.6
BH to the middle · rally	+1.9±3.2	+2.8	−1.0
BH to their backhand · rally	+1.5±4.3	+4.8	−3.3

Avoid

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
BH to their backhand · rally	+1.5±4.3	+4.8	−3.3
BH to the middle · rally	+1.9±3.2	+2.8	−1.0
FH to the middle · rally	+2.5±2.7	+1.0	+1.6
FH to their backhand · rally	+3.1±3.9	+1.6	+1.6
FH to the middle · return	+3.6±3.2	+2.3	+1.3

Against Maja Chwalinska-like opponents

Klara Koukalova v	Matches	Serve pts won	Return pts won
All charted opponents	–	46.2%	45.4%

Similar by tactical fingerprint: Magdalena Frech, Sara Bejlek, Kaja Juvan, Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah, Sara Errani, Angelique Kerber, Brenda Fruhvirtova, Martina Trevisan, Kateryna Baindl, Agnieszka Radwanska. When two players have rarely met, their records against these lookalikes fill the gap.