The first week at the WTA Madrid Open draws to a close. Third-round action will be in full swing on Sunday with eight more players looking to reach the second week. The all-Russian meeting between Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Potapova will be one of the much-anticipated matches of the day. We also look at the rest of the day’s matches in a separate article. But who will advance?
WTA Madrid Day 6 Predictions
Qinwen Zheng vs Ekaterina Alexandrova
Head-to-head: Alexandrova 1-0 Zheng
A top-20 breakthrough is very much on the cards for 20-year-old Qinwen Zheng. She is set to lock horns with Ekaterina Alexandrova for the second time on clay. Last season the Russian staged a come-from-behind win in Charleston, albeit with Zheng retiring 2-5 down in the third. Zheng has since done her bit in improving her baseline-oriented game to neutralize the WTA’s biggest hitters. She has since recorded some fabulous results against that caliber of opponents tallying wins over Potapova, Ostapenko, Samsonova, and Alycia Parks all in 2023. It wouldn’t come as a shock if she added Alexandrova to that list.
Prediction: Zheng in 3
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Barbora Krejcikova vs Xiyu Wang
Head-to-head: Wang 2-1 Krejcikova
Xiyu Wang trailed Bianca Andreescu by a set and a break in their second-round encounter. But she stormed back to win 3-6 7-6 6-2 in a near three-hour marathon. But it might turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for the Chinese lefty who still spotted heavy strapping on her left thigh. She had previously taken three medical time-outs in her stunning upset of in-form Varvara Gracheva in the opening round. And now having played another brutally punishing three-setter, Wang’s body is unlikely to hold up against Krejcikova’s bag of tricks in spite of her winning head-to-head record.
Prediction: Krejcikova in 2
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Petra Martic vs Anna Kalinskaya
Head-to-head: Kalinskaya 1-0 Martic
After her three-set defeat to Rybakina in Miami, Anna Kalinskaya had unfinished business with the Kazakh. And on Friday, she duly delivered against an off-color Rybakina who struggled to control her shots in the altitude and lost for the third time this month. Petra Martic, meanwhile, escaped the shackles of Laura Siegemund in two tight sets to reach the third round. It’s the Croat’s best run in this event since 2019. Kalinskaya’s two previous top-10 wins were overshadowed by her subsequent exit in the next round. So it’s a trend she hopes to end on Sunday. Martic can dial up her aggression and put pressure on the Russian’s serve which has looked suspect this week (registered 19 double faults so far). If she succeeds, Martic might edge this encounter.
Prediction: Martic in 3
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Veronika Kudermetova vs Anastasia Potapova
Head-to-head: Kudermetova 1-1 Potapova
Veronika Kudermetova snapped her four-match losing streak with a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 6-2 win over Nuria Parrizas-Diaz. It is a welcome relief for Kudermetova whose status as a top-10 player was short-lived and dreadful run of results in the past two months. She will look to win back-to-back matches for the first time since mid-February. Anastasia Potapova, for her part, also came through her second-round match in three sets against Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian. Kudermetova has the ammunition of a monstrous first serve which works a treat in these quicker conditions in Madrid, but Potapova has superior baseline skills and a power-packed forehand. It should be a lot closer than what the odds suggest with a tiny advantage to Potapova.
Prediction: Potapova in 3
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
