Ons Jabeur vs Maria Sakkari Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Rome

Prediction published on 12/05/2022, 16:57  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/05/2022 at 05:47 in Tennis Predictions

Ninth seeded Ons Jabeur has made a strong start to the clay court season. The Tunisian seed takes on Maria Sakkari who is seeded fourth for a place in the Rome Masters semi-final. Jabeur began the clay court season by reaching the final in Charleston. A quarter final in Stuttgart followed before winning the Madrid Masters last week. Jabeur is ranked seventh in the world but up to a career high sixth in the live rankings. She's been very consistent this year and had reached the last eight of three tournaments before the clay season started. This week has seen her defeat Sorana Cirstea, Ajla Tomljanovic and Yulia Putintseva, all without any sets dropped. Only Iga Swiatek has earned more ranking points than Jabeur this year.

Maria Sakkari is fourth in terms of ranking points earned in 2022. Most of her points came in February and March of this year. During that time, the Greek reached the final of the St Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, the last four in Doha and then the final at Indian Wells. The latter two tournaments saw her have the misfortune of running into an in-form Iga Swiatek. It's not gone too well since then though with only one match won in her last three events. It's gone better this week with victories over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Cori Gauff without losing a set. This is only her third match against Jabeur and the score is 1-1. One of the matches was played seven years ago though. Jabeur is the player in form and the one to follow at present. Go for her to get a close win, possibly needing three sets.