Aryna Sabalenka vs Donna Vekić Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Australian Open

Prediction published on 23/01/2023, 08:53  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 23/01/2023 at 09:55 in Tennis Predictions

Only two of the last eight in the Australian Open quarter finals are ranked in the top ten. One of those is the fifth seeded Aryna Sabalenka who takes on the unnseeded Donna Vekic for a place in the semi-finals. The winner of this match will be up against either 30th seeded Karolina Pliskova or unseeded Magda Linette in the semi-finals. Sabalenka can move up to fourth in the live rankings if she can get past Vekic. It's already been a good year for the Belarusian with a title win in the first Adelaide International tournament. Her win over Belinda Bencic in the last 16 of this tournament has taken her to the top of the live WTA Race list, based on points earned in 2023. Sabalenka is in her first Australian Open quarter final and is bidding to reach her fourth Grand Slam semi-final. The former world number two has never played in a Grand Slam final but has a great chance of doing so in this Australian Open. Her four wins in this tournement have been achieved without a set being dropped and only 21 games lost. Sabalenka does not have a good record against Vekic. Six previous meetings have only produced one win for her. Three however were as far back as 2016 and 2017 when Sabalenka was much lower in the rankings.

Donna Vekic is playing in only her second Grand Slam quarter final, the other being at the US Open four years ago. Her previous best in the Australian Open was a fourth round appearance two years ago. At the start of this Australian Open, Vekic was ranked 64th but is now up to 34th in the live rankings. A win over Sabalenka can take her to 23rd place, just four below her best ever ranking of 19th. The Croatian reached the final of the San Diego Open last October and that included a win over her opponent in this match. So far in 2023 Vekic has had three wins in the United Cup and her good form has continued in this Australian Open. The first round saw her have to go to three sets to get past qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva but since then there have been two straight sets wins, including beating 18th seed Liudmila Samsonova in round two but needed to go to a final set to get past unseeded Linda Fruhvirtova in the last 16. Back Sabalenka to get the win in this match.