Kaia Kanepi vs Liudmila Samsonova: Who Will Win At The WTA Washington Final?
Kaia Kanepi vs Liudmila Samsonova: Kaia Kanepi secured a win against Daria Saville 6-3, 6-1 to book a spot in the final of Citi Open. Liudmila Samsonova will also play in the final as she defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-1 on Saturday.
Undefeated all season, the Estonian is heading into the Australian Open week in better form than at her maiden appearance. The Estonian gave Iga Swiatek a scare before ultimately losing in three sets 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 but has enough wins on her record to show for it. Outscoring Garbine Muguruza and Belinda Bencic, she’s back on track after some rough patches.
Kanepi reached the semifinals of the WTA 125 tournament, The Trophee Lagardere. Her career highlights include four titles on hard court, three titles on clay and a total of 20 ITF titles.
Meanwhile, some of the Russian’s bad match results happened in the Stuttgart Open. Iga Swiatek had to play a tough third set with the Pole.
With one career WTA title, Samsonova has lifted the trophy at the 2021 German Open grasscourt tournament. The Russian has also claimed four ITF circuit titles in her career to date. So far, she has beaten Elise Mertens, Ajla Tomljanovic, Emma Raducanu and Wang Xiyu on her journey to the final. In the quarterfinals, Samsonova had a comfortable victory over Wang 6-1, 6-1
Liudmila Samsonova defeats Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-2. They have met 3 times previously; most recently at the Wimbledon Championships when Samsonova managed to defeat Kanepi.
Kaia Kanepi vs Liudmila Samsonova is a predicted close match. The players have nearly identical stats on the court this year, but Samsonova has an edge in ace count and break conversion.
Kanepi has the ability to switch between attacking and defending, depending on the situation, thus playing a powerful stroke game with her flat backhand or forehand. She is comfortable using these two different strokes to return serves as well.
Samsonova is a quality player. She made 17 winners and just five unforced errors in her previous match. She will need to react quickly and efficiently to Kanepi’s clean ball-striking to score the victory. Pick: Samsonova to win by three sets.