Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz vs Aryna Sabalenka Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Mutua Madrid Open

Prediction published on 02/05/2023, 02:37  by Kennedy Kechula in Tennis Predictions

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka will on Tuesday continue with her bid to win a second title at the Mutua Madrid Open when she goes up against the unseeded Mayar Sherif in the quarterfinals on an outdoor clay court. Sabalenka was crowned champion in 2021 and is highly favoured to win here again. This will be the first-ever clash between these two players and will have the winner advance to the semifinals where a clash with either ninth seed Maria Sakkari or 31 seed Irina-Camelia Begu awaits. Mayar Sherif has already set a personal record by advancing this far in what is only her second appearance in Madrid. The Egyptian made her tournament debut in last year’s edition and was unable to make it out of the qualifying rounds. She will hope to prolong her stay here as she continues to turn her season around after a torrid start. Sherif has won 11 of the 21 matches that she has played so far with seven of those coming in her last eight matches. Her rise to the last eight here has boosted her world ranking as it has catapulted her 19 places to a new career-high of number 41 in the live ranking. On her path she has gotten the better of seeded players including Caroline Garcia (fifth seed), Elise Mertens (24th seed) and Anhelina Kalinina 30th seed) and will be confident of upsetting another on Tuesday.

Aryna Sabalenka made a shambolic defence of her title last season as he was eliminated in the first round by the unseeded Amanda Anisimova in three sets. She will hope to ascend to the title once again this time around and her start to the season as well as the competition suggests that she will. The world number two has made it all the way to the final in four of her previous six tournaments and has won two titles including her first Grand Slam with her success at the Australian Open. She made it to the final in Stuttgart as she switched to clay for the season and has carried that momentum here where she has won all her matches without dropping a set. The 12-time WTA champion has breezed past her opponents and none of her three matches has gone past two hours and this should be a huge advantage for her against Sherif. Sabalenka’s win over the wildcard Mirra Andreeva in the previous round lasted just one hour and 12 minutes which is one hour 41 minutes less than the time Sherif took to win her fourth-round clash.