World No. 5 Elina Svitolina, the tournament’s second seed, will take on Russian Veronika Kudermetova, ranked 46th in the WTA rankings, in the last eight of the 2021 WTA Abu Dhabi Open. The match is scheduled for Monday, January 11, and is likely to begin at around 2:00 pm local time (10 am BST or 4 am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Elina Svitolina v Veronika Kudermetova match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Elina Svitolina v Veronika Kudermetova Head to Head
This will be the second meeting between the two players.
Kudermetova won their only previous meeting in three sets 6-2 1-6 7-5. That came in a 2019 second-round match at the Kremlin Cup. Additionally, that match was on an indoor hard court.
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Svitolina Survives Close Affair
After straightforward victories in the first and second round, Svitolina had a close encounter with Ekaterina Alexandrova that saw her have to save match point twice.
She came in priced at 11/25 and started strongly. She broke Alexandrova three times in succession to go 4-1 up in the first set. She held on to claim it 6-2.
The second and third sets were contrasting affairs to that first set. There were 16 break points in the second set, with each player breaking each other thrice forcing an inevitable tiebreak. Despite Alexandrova being 2-0 and 4-2 down in the tiebreak, she fought back and won it 7-5 to force a third set.
The third set matched the evenness of the second one. Despite being 3-1 and 4-2 down, Svitolina came back to force a tiebreak. This included rescuing three break points in the set’s seventh game; which, had she failed to rescue, would have put her 5-2 down instead of 4-3 and given her chances a gloomier possibility.
But after forcing a tiebreak, she found herself rescuing match point twice when she was trailing 6-5 and 7-6. She, however, held on to win the tiebreak and the match as well.
Despite that scare, she remains one of the favorites to clinch this tournament.
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Kudermetova Keeps Up Great Form
Kudermetova rode the wave of her great form to make it to her third successive WTA quarter-final.
Having already dispatched Anett Kontaveit and Bianca Turati in the first and second round—both in straight sets—she came into her third-round tie against Paula Badosa as the ranked favorite.
She started strong, breaking Badosa immediately in the first game of the first set. Badosa broke back immediately, but Kudermetova broke back again immediately to go 2-1 up. With no other break points in that set, that proved crucial in helping Kudermetova win the first set 6-4.
The second set was a back and forth affair which saw a total of 10 break points. Despite Kudermetova converting both of her break points, Badosa converted three of hers, one crucially in the last game of the set, to win the set 6-4 and force a third set.
However, Kudermetova controlled proceedings in the third set, winning it 6-1 to claim the tie. In addition to this, her great serve helped her notch 10 aces in the match and win 79% (31/39) of her first serve points.
Svitolina v Kudermetova Prediction and Tip
Despite Kudermetova’s great performances in this tournament, Svitolina has the slight edge in this tie. The Russian should still be fancied to push the Ukrainian and probably take the match to an exciting third set, but Svitolina’s prowess should be enough to see her through.
Tip: Svitolina to win: 1/2 (bet365)
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The 2020 Abu Dhabi Open will be played from January 6 to 13. You can watch & bet on the Abu Dhabi Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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