Sofia Kenin vs Veronika Kudermetova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA San Diego Open

Prediction published on 10/09/2023, 05:55  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 10/09/2023 at 07:05 in Tennis Predictions

Sixth seeded Veronika Kudermetova has a tricky draw in the San Diego Open first round. Her opponent is wild card Sofia Kenin with the winner set to face an unseeded player in round two. Either wild card Katie Volynets or a qualifier will be faced. This gives Kudermetova in particular a good chance of making it to the last eight. The Russian is 18th in the live rankings and holds the same position in the Live WTA Race. If she wants to reach the WTA Tour finals, a lot of matches are going to have to be won in the next couple of months. That wasn't the case when being knocked out by Bernarda Pera in the first round of the US Open. Kudermetova has only won one of her last five matches and it's seen her slip down the rankings after being as high as 11th in May. This is an outdoor hard court event and on this surface Kudermetova has won 11 of her 21 matches this year. The quarter finals were reached in both Abu Dhabi and Doha. In the latter, she beat Kenin in straight sets.

Sofia Kenin begins this tournament at 92nd in the live rankings. That's 118 places higher than when she met Kudermetova earlier this year. Three years ago she was ranked fourth in the world, mainly due to reaching the Australian Open final. This is only her second hard court event since getting to the last 32 of the Miami Open in late March. The American reached the second round of the US Open where losing in three sets to 13th seed Daria Kasatkina. Her best run on this surface in 2023 has been a semi-final in Hobart right at the start of the year. We go for over 21.5 games to be played in this match.