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Horse Racing Friday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Rome, Veronika Kudermetova vs Anhelina Kalinina
Veronika Kudermetova vs Anhelina Kalinina Best Bet: Friday, May 19th
Very nice win for Alize Cornet against Su Jeong Jang to reach her first quarterfinal of the season in Paris. Should help her confidence ahead of the year’s second grand slam in the same city in about a week’s time.
For this week’s final article from the women’s events, we head back to Rome, where it’s semifinals day in the women’s draw. Let’s delve into the contest between Veronika Kudermetova and Anhelina Kalinina.
In this article:
- Veronika Kudermetova vs Anhelina Kalinina Preview
- Veronika Kudermetova vs Anhelina Kalinina Best Bet
Veronika Kudermetova vs Anhelina Kalinina Preview
May 19th, 14:30 (UK Time)
Call me stubborn, but I’m going back to the well in opposing Kalinina.
Having watched her previous matches, she’s managed to beat error-prone players and play a redline-level of tennis against her toughest opponent that still saw her need over 3h40m and a comeback from a set down and break down in the third set.
Now she plays another one of the world’s top-15 in Kudermetova. Much like her last match, she’s taking on someone with decent pop on serve and in her ground game, comfort on clay and this time around, she’s playing someone off a strong event in Madrid and who can come to net far more effectively.
That last point is of particular importance in this matchup. See, Kalinina plays a very defensive, counterpunching style. It actually helped produce one of the best matches I’ve seen this season on the WTA Tour in the last round as Haddad Maia worked the ball around the court, struck it well and Kalinina continued to run them down and ask the question of the Brazilian.
With Haddad Maia a natural baseliner, she had the time to hit her defensive return and recover to the centre of the court to prepare to do it again on the next ball.
Kudermetova, however, is very comfortable at the net. In fact, she’s one of the world’s premiere doubles players and has no issue coming in and then executing with efficiency in those positions.
That’s an incredibly important tool to have against a player that is content staying several feet behind the baseline and running down their opponent’s shots.
Coming into net allows a player to take those returns out of the air and volley into the open court, taking that time away and making it nearly impossible to run down and extend the rally.
I’m not sold on Kalinina’s play, don’t think it’s sustainable and with Kudermetova even more equipped to send her packing than Haddad Maia, I’m happy to back the 26-year-old in this semifinal tilt.
Veronika Kudermetova vs Anhelina Kalinina Best Bet
This run just continues to give off an unsustainable vibe from Kalinina. Paradoxically, the more she wins and the more I see her play, the less I believe that this is a recipe for continued success on slow clay courts.
With Kudermetova the best player she’s had to go through yet, the fact that she had to survive near defeat in the last round and needed her opponent to fade physically to come back in the deciding set and Kudermetova being able to exploit her deep court positioning, I’m happy to once again bet against the Ukrainian No. 1 in this spot.
- Selection: Kudermetova to win
- Best Odds: 1.60 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 4/10
- Bonus: Kudermetova -3 games at 1.97 with Pinnacle using 2/10 stakes and Kudermetova to win 2-0 at 2.50 with Bet365 using 2/10 stakes
Odds as at 3:00 am May 19th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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