Aryna Sabalenka vs Ekaterina Alexandrova: Sabalenka advances to semi-finals

In the quarterfinal of the Kremlin Cup, Aryna Sabalenka, the No.2 of the world, will meet Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 37th ranked player in the world. The girls have played with each other three times. In 2017 Alexandrova beat Sabalenka 2-0 in Shenzhen, and after that, the Belarusian beat the Russian twice in 2019, first in the same Shenzhen and then in St Petersburg.

Aryna Sabalenka has been resting from the big sport for over a month. We haven’t seen the Belarusian athlete on the court since the US Open semifinals. We’ll remind you that in New York, Arina reached the semifinals of the Majors, where she lost in three sets to Canada’s Fernandez. Before losing to Fernandez, Sabalenka lost only one set in five matches to Stojanovic in the first round. At the Kremlin Cup, Sabalenka played one match, with some difficulty, but beat Tomljanovic. As that match progressed, Sabalenka was gaining in terms of tone.

For Alexandrova, the Kremlin Cup is already quite a successful season, relative to recent results. First, Alexandrova knocked out Jabeur, the eighth-ranked player in the world, although note that Jabeur formally withdrew from the tournament. After Jabeur, Ekaterina played two sets against Kalinina in one hour and 14 minutes 6-4, 6-1. Such a result shows that the Russian is in good shape, but let’s note that Sabalenka is still the most motivated second racket of the world.

Sabalenka is precisely known for winning not the biggest tournaments, and these are her chips. Sabalenka is getting close to winning the Majors, but for now, that’s in the future. We believe Sabalenka is the main contender for the title, which is generally confirmed by the betting line. We believe Alexandrova has little chance of winning one set against Sabalenka, let alone winning the match. Here are the odds for this match: 2:0 for 1.83, Handicap 1 (-4) for 1.77.