Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Daria Kasatkina Prediction: Who comes on top in the All-Russian battle? Probably Daria

The WTA and ATP scene is constantly shifting to the French Open which is played on the clay court. Therefore, tournaments prior to this Roland Garros is going to be played on clay to set the stage for the Grand Slam. In this game played on the clay court of Madrid, Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova takes on Daria Kasatkina.

Anastasia comes into the match after an intense 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 win against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva in the Round of 128. The first tiebreaker was won by Victoria 7-5 while Anastasia won the second tiebreaker 9-7. Anastasia had seven double faults but Victoria also had a ton of double faults, committing six of them. The service points area was close, Anastasia winning that battle 77-75 but it was the receiving points battle where Anastasia pinched a big advantage, winning 59:43. Anastasia returns to the WTA scene after more than two months. She has had a rather tough time.

Daria enters the tournament after losing in the First Round against Paula Badosa during the Stuttgart Open. During Charleston Open, Daria made it to the Semi-Final, losing to Ons Jabeur after having beaten Bernarda Pera and Madison Keys. She exited in the first round of the Miami Open and second round of the Indian Wells Masters. Prior to that, Qatar Open, Dubai Tennis Championships, Abu Dhabi, and Australian Open campaigns were also short for Kasatkina who has underachieved this year.

Daria and Anastasia have met four times and Kasatkina has won three of those. They last met way back in 2021 during Phillip Island Trophy when Daria won in three sets.

Daria will enter as the favorite here but Anastasia can be a tough challenge as she can grind it out at times. This can be a close battle but I expect Kasatkina to win here in a three-set match-up.