Jessica Pegula vs Veronika Kudermetova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Mutua Madrid Open

Prediction published on 02/05/2023, 08:16  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 02/05/2023 at 09:22 in Tennis Predictions

Third seeded Jessica Pegula faces the 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the Madrid Open quarter finals. The winner is likely to have a tough match in the last four with top seed Iga Swiatek or 27th seeduled Petra Martic. Pegula reached the final of this outdoor clay court tournament last year losing to Ons Jabeur. The world number three also got to the last eight at Roland Garros last year as well as the women's doubles final so is at home on this surface. Pegula is yet to win a clay court title but that's her main problem regardless of what surface she's playing on. The American is consistent and piles up the ranking points but rarely wins a title. This tournament has seen her reach the last eight with three wins and only one set dropped. That was in her last match against Martina Trevison, losing the middle one. This is her second clay court event of the year, the other seeing her lose to Belinda Bencic in the last four of the Charleston tournament.

Veronika Kudermetova began this tournament ranked 13th and will move up a place if beating Pegula. The 26-year-old looks forward to the clay court season and also got to the last eight at Roland Garros in 2022. Her form has been disappointing of late though with six of her last seven matches being lost before arriving in Madrid. Her first two clay court matches of the year were both lost but that's all changed in this tournament. It's still been a struggle though with each of her three matches going to a final set after winning the first one. The last round saw her defeat the eighth seed Daria Kasatkina but needing a final set tie-break to do so. This is the first meeting between the pair and our tip is for Pegula to win.