Interestingly again the bookies are not making Laura a clear favourite for this match. They clearly seem to think that clay is not Laura's surface when in actual fact she moves very well on it and her shots kick up on it as well making it difficult for her opponent. I would be very confident of a win today if it wasn't for her loss last year against Genie, saying that she was in a very down stage in her form last year and so was Genie to be fair as well, but Laura has made the bigger progress since. I sense though that Laura will want revenge today and overall I'm pretty confident that she will win handily.
If you look back through the records Laura has some very good form on clay and Palermo sticks in my mind - i think she will get past Genie quite comfortably.
Yes, I am also hoping and expecting to see a fairly comfortable win for Laura.
Given her, as pointed out, pretty decent clay form and I sense an upturn in that so important comodity, confidence, she should have too much.
She does seem to move pretty well for her on clay. I am thinking that the ball holding up that bit more on the surface helps her be in prime position on the shot as against other surfaces where her feet and / or racquet prep aren't quite there and while the intentions are good, because of that, the ball goes the wrong side of a line.