Plans for Russian matches
Barbora Krejcikova – Lyudmila Samsonova
Fourth seed Barbora Krejcikova will face talented Russian Lyudmila Samsonova in the quarter-finals of the Abu Dhabi Open. Head-to-head matches between these tennis players ended in a 1:1 draw, with Krejcikova winning their last meeting at the 2023 Stuttgart Open.
Samsonova reached three WTA tournament finals last year, but lost in all matches, including in Abu Dhabi against Belinda Bencic. Then there were also defeats against Jessica Pegula in Montreal and Iga Swiatek in Beijing. It is interesting that before this Samsonova won all 4 finals in her career and now she has an unsuccessful streak of 3 consecutive defeats.
Krejcikova has won 67% of her matches over the past 12 months on hard court and has won titles in Dubai, San Diego and Zhengzhou. She also has another title on grass in Birmingham.
She had an easy run at the Abu Dhabi tournament, as her opponent in the 1/8 finals, Sara Sorribes Tormo, quickly withdrew from the match due to injury. Krejcikova is the favorite as Samsonova had a poor start to the year, losing all three of her matches at Australian tournaments and currently has a record of 2 wins and 3 losses.
Forecast: Krejcikova wins in three sets.
Daria Kasatkina – Sorana Kirstea
Daria Kasatkina will meet in-form Romanian Sorana Cirstei in the quarter-finals.
Kasatkina showed her class against Diane Parry and Ashlyn Kruger in the first two rounds. The Frenchwoman had to play three sets, but the Briton managed to win fairly quickly.
Sorana Cirstea performed well in hard court tournaments last year and in February she was back in form. After early eliminations in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne, she has already eliminated the very strong Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia in Abu Dhabi.
Kasatkina will not be easy in the match with the Romanian, she will probably have to play three sets, but still, at some point Kirsty’s sensations will end and the Russian tennis player should reach the semi-finals.
Forecast: Kasatkina wins in three sets.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev/Athletistic
Source: Sport
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