Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Anhelina Kalinina Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Rome

Prediction published on 15/05/2023, 10:21  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 15/05/2023 at 11:59 in Tennis Predictions

We're guaranteed a player from outside the top ten in the Italian Open quarter finals. 12th seeded Beatriz Haddad-Maia faces the 30th seeded Anhelina Kalinina in the last eight of this outdoor clay courtS tournament. The winner will be up against either 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova or 22nd seeded Zheng Qinwen. Maia is up one place to 14th in the live rankings thanks to this run to the last eight in Rome. The Brazilian has won clay court tournaments at ITF and Challenger Tour levels but hasn't done so well on the WTA circuit but has shown improvement. This is her second clay court quarter-final of the year, the other being in Stuttgart. That tournament saw her beat Elena Rybakina (who retired in the second set after losing the first)  before winning just three games against Ons Jabeur. In Rome, Maia has had three straight sets wins, including beating the 17th seeded Magda Linette in round three.

Anhelina Kalinina has had three previous matches against Maia and won them all. Two were played nine years ago though and the most recent in Miami last year. Kalinina began this Italian Open ranked 47th but was as high as 28th in March. The 26-year-old is up to 39th in the live rankings and reaching the last four could take her back to that career high of 28th and a likely seeding at Roland Garros. Kalinina is in only her second quarter final of the year and her first on clay. Before this Italian Open, Kalinina had played two clay court tournaments this year and lost both her matches in straight sets to players ranked outside the top 50. It's all gone much better for her in Rome with two straight sets wins and then beating 19th seeded Madison Keys after losing the first set. Maia looks to be in the better form at present and can get the win to make it into the last four.