Liudmila Samsonova vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Dubai Tennis Championships

Prediction published on 15/02/2025, 12:26  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 15/02/2025 at 13:26 in Tennis Predictions

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faces Liudmila Samsonova for a place in round two of the Dubai Tennis Championships. They were due to face each other here last year but Pavlyuchenkova withdrew. Here's our match prediction.

Both players are unseeded and Samsonova is ahead of her opponent in the live rankings. However, it's Pavlyuchenkova who is higher in the WTA Live Race mainly due to her reaching the last eight of this year's Australian Open.

Pavlyuchenkova is at 36th in the live rankings but 24th in the WTA Live Race. The Russian has only once reached the last eight of this outdoor hard court tournament and that was 15 years ago, three years before Samsonova turned professional.

The 33-year-old was ranked 38th back then so has kept her place in the top 40 for a long time. 

26-year-old  Liudmila Samsonova is not in the best of form at present. Three of her last four matches have been lost. The most recent was a second round loss to Jelena Ostapenko in Doha last week. A return to the form that saw her get to the last four in Adelaide last month will be her aim.

The winner meets fifth seed Jessica Pegula next and we tip Pavlyuchenkova to win.