Elena Rybakina (Twitter)
Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina will take on No.7 seed Elena Rybakina in the final of the Italian Open
Elena Rybakina is one of the most in-form players on the WTA tour at the moment. She has made the finals of two tournaments so far this year – the Australian Open and the Miami Open besides winning the Indian Wells Masters. However, there has been a dip in her form of late.
She came to Rome following a shocking first-round exit from the Madrid Open last month but has redeemed herself at the Italian Open and will be gunning for her second title of the season.
Rybakina is seeded No.7 at this tournament and received a ‘Bye’ in the first round due to her superior ranking. She got the better of Jasmine Paolini in her opening encounter and then received a walkover mid-way through her next match against Anna Kalinskaya. In the Round of 16, the seventh seed beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash against Swiatek. The encounter was turning out to be a thriller after both players won one set each but Swiatek had to withdraw mid-way through the third set, giving Rybakina a walk over.
The Kazakh star then went on to decimate Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4 in the semis to set up a summit clash against Anhelina Kalinina.
Kalinina has surprised one and all with her performances at the Italian Open. The 30th seed has exceeded expectations to reach the Final in Rome and she has nothing to lose at this stage. The Ukrainian player registered two incredible victories in her previous two rounds against seeded players Madison Keys (19) and Beatriz Haddad Maia (12). She showed immense determination to comeback from a set down and win in both the matches. Kalinina then went on to get the better of 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova in a thrilling clash to progress to the finals.
Kalinina will be the underdog going into the final but she has already shown that she is capable of beating anyone on her day and is very much in contention to win the title.
Date – Saturday, 20th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – 10:30 pm IST
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Final
Rybakina and Kalinina have played each other once before on the WTA tour. The Kazakh star emerged victorious in their sole face-off till date and thereby leads 1-0 on head-to-head. On paper, Rybakina is the outright favourite both in terms of ability and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the in-form Ukrainian and she is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting an intense encounter with Rybakina eventually edging out Kalinina in three sets.
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