In-form Anhelina Kalinina squares off against Anna Blinkova in the semifinals of the Open de Limoges on Friday.
The fifth seed came into the tournament on the back of some fine form and has continued in the same vein so far. She has made it to her third consecutive semifinal. In her last couple of tournaments, Kalinina lost in the semis but she will hope to get to the finals here in Limoges.
In the round of 32, Kalinina got off to a comfortable start as she defeated Carole Monnet in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. Kalinina bageled her opponent, Jenny Lim, in the round of 16 in straight sets. Kalinina had a tough proposition in the quarterfinals as she was up against top seed Zhang Shuai. However, the 25-year-old continued her blistering form and outplayed Shuai in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
The Russian youngster didn’t come into the tournament with good results to show. However, she has played exceedingly well to reach her seventh semifinal in 2022. Her fans will be delighted to know that she has just lost one semifinal this year.
Blinkova faced former world No. 4 Sofia Kenin in the first round and handed the American player a loss in straight sets. In the round of 16, Blinkova defeated Greet Minnen in straight sets. However, the two sets were closely contested. The match ended 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in favor of the 24-year-old. Blinkova produced her best performance against fifth seed Ana Bogdan in the quarterfinals. The former got the better of Bogdan in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Anna Blinkova has a healthy 5-0 lead over Anhelina Kalinina in the head-to-head scoreline. Blinkova came from behind to defeat Kalinina in their most recent encounter in the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open in October.
Prediction: Anhelina Kalinina to win in three sets.
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