In the second semifinal of the 2023 WTA Mutua Madrid Open, Iga Swiatek is going to face Veronika Kudermetova. In their previous three meetings, the Russian has only taken eight games off the World No. 1 combined. Can this time be any different?
WTA Madrid Semifinal Prediction
Iga Swiatek vs Veronika Kudermetova
Head-to-head: Swiatek 3-0
Iga Swiatek has dropped two sets in her 2023 clay-court campaign so far. One was when Karolina Pliskova dismantled her in the opening set and then couldn’t maintain that intensity in the next two in Stuttgart. The other came this week in Madrid, but the Pole was 6-4 5-2 up on Ekaterina Alexandrova and only has herself to blame for that. 8-0 on the dirt this year, she keeps showing her incredible prowess on the surface.
Veronika Kudermetova has managed to make her third WTA Tour semifinal of the year and it’s a bit of a toss-up between Doha and Madrid regarding which route was more impressive. The one in Qatar probably had her produce her best level more consistently, but the list of opponents taken out here is quite something. Anastasia Potapova, Daria Kasatkina, and Jessica Pegula have all gone down to Kudermetova in the past week or so. The Russian has won four matches in a row in a deciding set.
Swiatek has a literally perfect head-to-head against Kudermetova. Their closest match came at the US Open three years ago with the Pole claiming a 6-3 6-3 win. Since then, they’ve played twice and the Russian has only taken one game on both occasions. Their last meeting was the aforementioned event in Doha, where the 26-year-old was really on top of her game. That is until she ran into Swiatek.
And that’s also been a bit of a theme in the Pole’s matches this week. She’s facing someone who’s been really firing like Petra Martic or has a phenomenal clay-court pedigree like Bernarda Pera and makes them look out of place. Is it the aura of invincibility that she’s built for herself on clay? Is it the weight of shot that’s simply in another league? Who knows, but it’s going to be extremely tough to stop her.
Prediction: Swiatek in 2
Main Photo Credit: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
