Veronika Kudermetova and Yulia Putintseva will clash on Tuesday, August 10 in the 1/32 finals of the 2021 National Bank Open. Kudermetova last met with the 26-year-old Russian tennis star in February 2020, when she won 2-1 in St. Petersburg and now looks poised to repeat that success this evening.
Veronika Kudermetova vs Yulia Putintseva
When: Tuesday, August 10 – 12:30 EDT
Where: Montreal, Quebec, CA
Weather: Partly cloudy, 30°C
The WTA tournament of the 2021 Rogers Cup (Canadian Open) is taking place in Montreal. Only a week ago, most players from the Top 10 were expected to feature in this tournament; however, many of them decided to withdraw. As a result, some players that aren’t ranked very high in the WTA List now have a chance to get far in this tournament.
Among those are Veronika Kudermetova and Yulia Putintseva, both of whom are ranked outside of the top-30; Kudermetova is currently #33, while Putintseva is three places below. Both players would love to get to the Round of 16, which promises an exciting matchup this afternoon.
Kudermetova Wants to Bounce Back After Four Straight Losses
Although she has lost her previous four matches, Veronika Kudermetova can be satisfied with how things are going for her in 2021. Her overall record this year is 26-17, with one title won so far. It happened at the 2021 Charleston back in April.
Since then, her form has dipped slightly, although the reason for that might be that she had to face some really tough opponents. We saw her competing at the 2021 French Open, 2021 Wimbledon, and even at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
All those tournaments featured a significantly stronger field than the one in Montreal, where Kudermetova has a decent chance of going far. If she manages to beat Putintseva today, she will get to play the WTA #18 Maria Sakkari in Round of 16.
If Kudermetova could get past Sakkari as well, she would get to play against the winner of the Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea vs Victoria Azarenka match. On top of everything, the WTA Montreal draw is made in such a way that the earliest Kudermetova could face a Top 10 player is in the semifinal. The player in question is Garbine Muguruza, who’s currently #9.
Putintseva Isn’t Doing Great on the Hardcourt
The last time Yulia Putintseva won a hardcourt tournament was in 2012. Since then, her biggest achievements have happened while playing on clay. In fact, she’s claimed a clay-court tournament less than a month ago, on July 18, when she won the WTA Budapest.
However, she then played four hardcourt matches, losing two. One of those defeats happened in Japan in the first round of the Olympics. To be fair, it wasn’t a proper defeat – Putintseva retired after 1:35 hours of play.
Then, in San Jose, she won the first two matches before losing to Elise Mertens. Even though the Belgian player won 2-0, Putintseva did put up a decent fight. She took the second set to the tiebreaker, which finished 10-8 in her opponent’s favour.
Speaking of tiebreakers, we saw one in the Veronika Kudermetova vs Yulia Putintseva match last year. Their only duel in history started with a set that Kudermetova won after a 7-4 tiebreaker. Putintseva managed to strike back, winning the second set 6-1. The third set decided the winner – after 1:09, Kudermetova won with 7-5.
Veronika Kudermetova vs Yulia Putintseva Betting Picks
This is going to be an exciting game, but we do believe Kudermetova is the better player and looks capable of beating Putintseva on any given day. And this time, she has an extra motivation – Kudermetova wants to put an end to her losing streak!
Prediction: Veronika Kudermetova – 1.81 at Pinnacle
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