Elina Svitolina vs Angelique Kerber Tennis Prediction
Svitolina enters this match as the favorite, considering she has won her last five encounters with the German (leads H2H 7-5), dating back to 2016 Beijing. Four of these meetings have been on outdoor hard, while one on indoor clay (Stuttgart, Fed Cup).
Elina Svitolina News
Elina Svitolina, after winning just seven points in the first set of the third round match, staged a comeback to defeat the Russian #1 Daria Kasatkina, 0-6 6-3 6-2. Svitolina, who was flustered by a fall early in the first set, took some time to regroup and bounce back.
Rome’s defending champion Svitolina started her campaign with a much easier second round win (first round bye) over #36 Martic (6-1 6-2), where she did not get broken. The Ukrainian has spent two hours and 37 minutes on court to secure the quarterfinal spot.
The world #4 could win only one match in her first three appearances in Rome but managed to lift the Premier 5 title last year by defeating the likes of Pliskova, Muguruza (retirement) and the French Open finalist Halep. She is the first Ukrainian to reach the finals of Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Svitolina, who skipped her title defense campaigns this year at Taiwan and Istanbul, played at Dubai and defended the title, beating Kasatkina, Osaka and her quarterfinal opponent this week, Kerber. It was her second title of 2018, having won Brisbane earlier.
Angelique Kerber News
Angelique Kerber races into the quarterfinal of Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the first time since her semifinal run in 2012 (l. to defending champion Sharapova) after dropping just two games against Greek #1 Maria Sakkari in the round of 16 (6-1 6-1).
This 55-minute win comes after Kerber had to battle from a set down to defeat #41 Begu (3-6 7-5 7-5) in two hours and 37 minutes. After starting the week with a 6-2 7-6 win over Diyas, she has spent little more than five hours on the court (nearly twice as much as Svitolina).
This is the two-time slam champion’s first tournament after having to retire from Stuttgart second round due to an upper left thigh injury, last month. The retirement broke Kerber’s six-tournament streak of entering at least the quarterfinal stage.
The former world #1 has so far registered 25 wins in her resurgent 2018 season, fourth-most on tour. This includes a title victory at Sydney (d. Barty), her first title since 2016 US Open. Kerber heads into this clash with a 2-3 record against top 50 players in 2018.
Tennis Prediction: Elina Svitolina
Odds: 1.55
