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Fixture: (2) Aryna Sabalenka vs (9) Maria Sakkari.
Date: May 4, 2023.
Tournament: Mutua Madrid Open 2023.
Round: Semifinal.
Venue: Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain.
Category: WTA 1000.
Surface: Outdoor clay.
Prize money: €7,652,174.
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video.
Aryna Sabalenka vs Maria Sakkari preview
Reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka will lock horns with World No. 9 Maria Sakkari in the semifinals of the 2023 Madrid Open on Thursday.
Sabalenka defeated Sorana Cirstea, Camila Osorio and Mirra Andreeva to set up a quarterfinal showdown against Mayar Sherif. The Belarusian was completely outplayed in the opening set, failing to generate a single break point as she went on to lose it.
The duo traded service breaks to start the second set, with Sherif gaining the upper hand to go 2-1 up. Sabalenka then reeled off the next five games to clinch the set. She didn't take her foot off the pedal in the third set either, quickly racing to a 5-0 lead.
Sherif finally managed to bag a game for herself, following which Sabalenka closed out the proceedings to wrap up a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 comeback win. She has now reached her fifth semifinal of the season.
Sakkari, meanwhile, scored wins over Arantxa Rus, Rebeka Masarova and Paula Badosa to make the last eight in Madrid. She was up against 31st seed Irina-Camelia Begu in the quarterfinals.
Begu led by a break thrice in the first set and even served for it on two occasions, but was unable to get the job done as Sakkari refused to back down. The Romanian then managed to come out on top in the ensuing tie-break to claim the opener.
The second set started with three consecutive breaks of serve, with Sakkari gaining the upper hand to lead 2-1. She broke her opponent's serve yet again to go 5-2 up and serve for the set. Begu put up a fight as she claimed the next couple of games, but the Greek served out the set on her second try.
While Sakkari faced some stiff resistance from Begu in the third set, she kept her opponent at bay. She broke the Romanian's serve twice to win the match 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2.
Aryna Sabalenka vs Maria Sakkari head-to-head
Sabalenka leads Sakkari 5-3 in the head-to-head. The former won their most recent encounter at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open in straight sets.
Aryna Sabalenka vs Maria Sakkari odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Aryna Sabalenka vs Maria Sakkari prediction
Both staged a comeback to win their quarterfinal encounters. Sabalenka's serving woes returned to haunt her, but she cleaned up her act as the match went on. She served eight double faults across the first two sets and then not a single one in the third set.
The two are familiar rivals with Sabalenka having a winning record against Sakkari. However, this will be their first match on clay and the Greek is slightly better on the surface compared to the World No. 2.
Sakkari muscles her forehand quite well and has enough topspin on it to boot. She's capable of going toe-to-toe with Sabalenka in baseline duels. The Belarusian has demonstrated that she's capable of making adjustments on the fly to deal with any challenges presented by her opponent.
However, Sakkari is known to falter in the semifinals. She has a 7-21 record in final-four matches so far, with four of those losses coming this year. As such, Sabalenka will be favored to come through this clash.
Pick: Aryna Sabalenka to win in three sets.
