Anhelina Kalinina
Sofia Kenin will take on Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina in the third round of the Italian Open
Kalinina registered a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 victory against Anna Blinkova in the first round of the tournament. She is the 30th seed in Rome but her form has been terrible of late. Kalinina has suffered first-round exits from all of the last three tournaments she has participated in – the Madrid Open, the Charleston Open and the Miami Open. The Ukrainian has had a poor season so far and things only seem to get worse.
It is high time that Kalinina puts together a string of consistent results and gets her season back on track. She needs to capitalise on the good start at the Italian Open and make it count. It remains to be seen if the Ukrainian can turn things around in Rome and make a mark in the tournament.
Sofia Kenin of the US has made an amazing start to the Italian Open. She began her campaign with a thrilling victory against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in the opening encounter. The American then pulled off a major upset against second seed Aryna Sabalenka. She defeated the in-form Russian in straight sets 7-6, 6-2.
Kenin is unseeded but she is going to be a tricky opposition for anyone on her day. It remains to be seen if Kenin can continue her fairy-tale run in the tournament.
Date – Saturday, 13th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Round of 32 match
Kalinina and Kenin have played each other six times before on the WTA Tour. Both players know each other’s game pretty well. All matches have been closely fought with Kenin having the slight upper hand and leads 4-2 on head to head. It’s a difficult match to call as both players have similar playing styles and the performance on that particular day is likely to make a difference. We are predicting an intense encounter with Sofia Kenin eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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