Iga Swiatek vs Veronika Kudermetova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Japan Open

Prediction published on 27/09/2023, 08:13  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 27/09/2023 at 09:13 in Tennis Predictions

Top seed Iga Swiatek takes on eighth seeded Veronika Kudermetova in the hard court Toray Pan Pacific Open quarter finals.  For the winner, there's a  semi-final against unseeded opposition, either Linda Noskova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Ekaterina Alexandrova. Swiatek may be the top seed here but is no longer world number one. Aryna Sabalenka took over that postion during the US Open and even if Swiatek wins this tournament, the Pole will still be 816 points adrift of top spot. Swiatek has an excellent record against Kudermetova, winning all four of their previous meetings. The wins have been rather comprehensive with Kudermetova only winning four games in their last three matches. All bar this year's win in Madrid have been on a hard court. The Pole beat qualifier Mai Hontama in the second round (bye given in round one) but did lost nine games in that match.

Veronika Kudermetova was ranked 18th at the start of this tournament and remains in that position in the live rankings. The Russian began the year ranked ninth and had a poor year in the four Grand Slams, only winning two matches. Before this tournament, only one of her last five matches had been won and that was against Eugenie Bouchard who's ranked outside the top 200. Her best results this year have come on grass and clay. On hard courts, Kudermetova has reached two semi-finals and a quarter final, all in the early part of this year.  Some better form has been shown this week with two straight sets wins over a qualifier and an unseeded player. We go for Swiatek to win this in straight sets.