Athletistic/Tennis. Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin will face world number 27 Anastasia Potapova in the quarterfinals of the 2023 San Diego Open on Thursday.

Kenin eliminated sixth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets to book her place in the second round, where Katie Volynets awaited. The 24-year-old American was easily dominated in the first set, only managing to win one game.

Kenin then lost twice with a break in the second set, but in both cases she fought back by returning her serve. Then, in the last game of the set, she took Volynets’ serve and won the second game.

Even though Volynets took the lead early in the third set, Kenin quickly raised her level of play. She won five games in a row and made a comeback with a score of 1–6, 6–4, 6– 2.

Potapova, on the other hand, defeated Alicia Parks in three sets to set up a second-round showdown against tournament top seed Onse Jabeur. Both tennis players missed several break opportunities early on, but then broke twice.

Jabeur then served at 4-5, but at that point Potapova took her serve and won the set. Jabeur led with a break three times in the second set and even served for him twice, but Potapova managed to fight back, level the score and send the match to a tiebreaker.

Potapova took a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Jabeur won the next four points. The tide turned in the Russian’s favor again when she won two consecutive rallies, earned match points and won the match by a score of 6-4, 7-6 (4).

This will be their first meeting, so the score in personal meetings is currently 0:0.

Kenin struggled to move at times in the previous round due to a leg injury, but tried to get the job done. Potapova also managed to defeat a very strong tennis player from the top 10 of the WTA rankings.

The Russian has won 19 victories, but her 30 unforced errors are also a lot. Potapova’s serve was okay, but she committed seven double faults. Kenin also had problems with his serve. She committed the same number of double faults and won only 56 percent of her points on her first serve.

Kenin is aiming to reach her second semi-final of the season and her second semi-final since Roland Garros 2020. But Potapova appears to have found her form again. Her aggressive strikes can paralyze the American and help her move forward.

Forecast: Anastasia Potapova will win in straight sets.

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