On January 24, at 03:00 Moscow time, Kanepi will play against Sobolenko in the 1/8 finals of the Australian Open. Who will get to the 1/4 finals of this TBSH for the first time in their career? Bookmakers consider Arina to be the favorite of the meeting.
Kaya Kanepi
Kanepi is a 36-year-old Estonian tennis player, the 115th racket of the world. She had a strong start last season (the finals in Melbourne-1st and 3rd round at the Australian Open), but then at none of the tournaments could not get past the second round. She started the year 2022 with a tournament in Melbourne-1, but stopped in the second round. But at the Australian Open so far, everything is going well: victories in two games over Kerber and Bozkova, and then a strong-willed victory over the Australian Inglis: 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Kaya "overslept" the opening match, losing 4 opening games.
Arina Sobolenko
Sobolenko is a 23-year-old Belarusian tennis player, the 2nd racket of the world. Last year she won two tournaments (Abu Dhabi and Madrid), reached the final in Stuttgart, and also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Montreal tournament. In the new season, Arina is still only suffering: at two tournaments in Adelaide, she did not win a single match, losing to Yuvan and Peterson, and at the Australian Open she reached the 1/8 finals, having won three strong-willed victories: over Sanders, Xinyu Wang and Vondroushova.
Personal meeting statistics
The only face-to-face meeting remained for Kanepi: 6-1, 2-6, 6-1. It was a second-round match at a tournament in Melbourne-2 years ago.
Interesting facts:
- Kanepi will play in the 1/8 finals of the Australian Open for the first time in his career.
- 1/8 finals (2021, 2022) – Sobolenko's best result at the Australian Open.
- In the last 11 matches, Arina has lost at least one game.
Forecast from LiveResult.ru
In the new season, Arina played 5 matches, in which she lost 7 games, and this despite the fact that 4 rivals are tennis players who are outside the TOP 80 of the world ranking. The Belarusian is not in the best condition, makes a lot of mistakes, often makes double ones. As for Kanepi, she does not shine, but she should take at least one set from experience, which means that a plus handicap will be an excellent option for betting.