Jessica Pegula vs Veronika Kudermetova
Time: 4:30 PM IST
Head-to-head: 0-0
Martina Trevisan, who reached the semifinals of Roland-Garros in 2020, faced off against Jessica Pegula in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. Despite both players being broken at least six times, Pegula managed to win the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, as Trevisan hit her sixth double fault. This marked Pegula’s eighth three-set victory of the year, placing her joint-second on the tour.
Pegula had a challenging time in Madrid, having had to win tiebreaks in her previous matches against Magdalena Frech and Marie Bouzkova, despite winning both matches in straight sets. The third seed has now reached her sixth quarterfinal of the season and is aiming for her fifth semifinal, following her previous appearances in Doha (F), Dubai, Miami, and Charleston.
The 29-year-old American player had never made it to a clay-court quarterfinal before the 2021 Italian Open. She has recently improved her game on clay and reached her first clay-court semifinal and final in Madrid in 2022, losing to Ons Jabeur in the final after leading by a set.
Veronika Kudermetova had a poor run of form, losing her last four matches and six out of her last seven, before arriving in Madrid. However, she managed to win three consecutive three-set matches to secure her maiden quarterfinal appearance at the Madrid Open, with a total court time of eight hours and 17 minutes (excluding doubles).
Kudermetova defeated local qualifier Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round, followed by two more grueling victories over Anastasia Potapova and Daria Kasatkina, both of whom she defeated in tiebreaks, and had to fend off a couple of match points against Kasatkina.
Since the start of 2022, Kudermetova has reached 15 quarterfinals, winning nine of them, including in Adelaide and Doha earlier this season. Although she has a 3-5 record in clay-court quarterfinals, she reached the final in Istanbul in the previous season, but lost to Daria Kasatkina at Roland-Garros. Currently, she is ranked world No. 13.
Prediction: Back Kudermetova to win a set