Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Belinda Bencic Prediction & Betting Tips - Abu Dhabi Open

Prediction published on 11/02/2023, 04:59  by Kennedy Kechula in Tennis Predictions

Second seed Belinda Bencic and sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia will for the third time in their careers face off, this time at the WTA Abu Dhabi semi finals. The match will be played on an outdoor hard court with the winner advancing to play either eighth-seed Liudmila Samsonova or the unseeded Zheng Qinwen in the final for a chance at the 500 tour points on offer. Bencic is back into the WTA top 10 thanks to winning the title at Adelaide 2 and is looking to tighten her hold of ninth place by advancing to the final and ultimately win the tournament. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist has won her two matches in Abu Dhabi by straight sets. She faced an intense opening set in the previous round against the qualifier Shelby Rodgers where she was forced to seven games to win 7-6.

Beatriz Haddad Maia is ranked 14th in the world, a new career high achieved after she made it to the quarterfinals in Adelaide. She has risen to 12th in the live ranking due to her success in reaching the last four in Abu Dhabi. She has won all her three matches here 2-1 with the most impressive being the upset of Australian Open finalist and reigning Wimbledon Open champion Elena Rybakina in the previous round. Against Rybakina, the Brazilian number one came back from losing the first set and held the third seed Rybakina to just five games in the next two sets. It was the second time in the tournament that she was forced to come back from a losing position with the other time being in the first round against the unseeded Marie Bouzkova. Haddad Maia reached three WTA tour finals last year and won two and will be hoping to use the experience gained to advance here against Bencic.