{"id":23080,"date":"2020-01-16T12:19:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T17:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=23080"},"modified":"2020-01-16T12:19:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T17:19:02","slug":"wta-hobart-semifinal-predictions-zhang-kudermetova-watson-rybakina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2020\/01\/16\/wta-hobart-semifinal-predictions-zhang-kudermetova-watson-rybakina\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Hobart Semifinal Predictions: Zhang Shuai vs Veronika Kudermetova and Heather Watson vs Elena Rybakina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been an exciting week at the WTA Hobart International. Second seed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/2019\/11\/29\/garbine-muguruza-2019-season-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garbine Muguruza<\/a> withdrew from her quarterfinal clash with Veronika Kudermetova with a viral illness. Top seed Elise Mertens was bounced by a resurgent Heather Watson. Australia\u2019s Lizette Cabrera delighted her countrymen with stellar play before falling to Elena Rybakina. Now we\u2019re down to the final four.<\/p>\n<p>Who will move on to the final?<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Hobart International Semifinal Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Zhang Shuai vs Veronika Kudermetova<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head to head: <\/strong>First meeting<\/p>\n<p>Zhang Shuai will face Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals. The fourth seed has spent considerably more time on the courts than Kudermetova as she\u2019s reached the doubles semifinal alongside Peng Shuai. Will that added time serve to sharpen the Chinese skills or leave her low on energy? In truth, she seems to be managing well and showing no deficiencies in her title quest.<\/p>\n<p>Veronika Kudermetova has easily moved through the draw losing a mere 11 games. Certainly a walkover thanks to Garbine Muguruza\u2019s illness has save the Russian rising star from a protracted battle. Undoubtedly, Kudermetova will be the fresher of the two in this clash. Yet, Zhang will be the toughest opponent the 22-year-old will face thus far.<\/p>\n<p>Zhang\u2019s ability to extend rallies and her controlled aggression will prove a challenge for Kudermetova. Keeping the unforced errors count down will be key for Kudermetova. However, I see Zhang pushing the Russian to go for too much too soon.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Zhang in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"nFp-Ugj3Q6J7HvJSWgdFJA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1199831251\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'nFp-Ugj3Q6J7HvJSWgdFJA',sig:'ylP-R_V78gKTp0eDFQENz673-9CPfC4Brz6myNb5PmE=',w:'396px',h:'594px',items:'1199831251',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Heather Watson vs Elena Rybakina<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head to head: <\/strong>First meeting<\/p>\n<p>Qualifier Heather Watson impressed during her quarterfinal clash with top seed Elise Mertens. In a three hour, 33 minute bout, the Briton\u2019s footwork remained stellar, allowing her to setup shots with power and precision. Even with a scoreline deficit, Watson showed determination and fortitude, grabbing back the momentum Mertens had fought hard to claim. It\u2019s a remarkable resurgence for Watson who finally emerged victorious against Mertens in four meetings. But, will the 27-year-old have enough left in the tank during her sixth singles match of the tournament?<\/p>\n<p>After two straightforward wins, Elena Rybakina was pushed mightily by Aussie wildcard Linette Cabrera. The 20-year-old dropped the first set as Cabrera attacked the Kazahstani\u2019s second serve. Rybakina fought back, upping her first serve percentage and sealing the win in the decider. Against Watson, it will be important for Rybakina to excel on her first serve delivery, lest Watson take control of the point. Rybakina simply cannot rely on winning second serves with Watson\u2019s ability to attack.<\/p>\n<p>I expect this will be another long, three set battle. But, Rybakina is the fresher of the two and should edge this out for her second final appearance of 2020.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Rybakina in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo from Getty.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been an exciting week at the WTA Hobart International. Second seed Garbine Muguruza withdrew from her quarterfinal clash with Veronika Kudermetova with a viral illness. Top seed Elise Mertens was bounced by a resurgent Heather Watson. Australia\u2019s Lizette Cabrera delighted her countrymen with stellar play before falling to Elena Rybakina. Now we\u2019re down to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":22807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,69],"tags":[5595,477,10324,10326,10327,10234,10246,6218,10325],"class_list":["post-23080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wta","category-predictions","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-heather-watson","tag-heather-watson-vs-elena-rybakina-prediction","tag-veronika-kudermetoa","tag-wta-hobart-2020","tag-wta-hobart-international","tag-wta-hobart-predictions","tag-zhang-shuai","tag-zhang-shuai-vs-veronika-kudermetova-prediction"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1838"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}