Elena Rybakina vs Anna Kalinskaya Pick – Tennis Predictions & Odds 5/14/23

Anna Kalinskaya and Elena Rybakina meet in the third round of the 2023 tennis Italian Open. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Anna Kalinskaya is coming off a straight set win over Elise Mertens that took 29 games to decide. In the victory, Kalinskaya won 57 percent of her first serve points and 50 percent of her second serve points. Kalinskaya won 55 percent of her total service points and converted on 7 of her 13 break points. Kalinskaya got 71 percent of her first serves in play and hit 3 aces. Kalinskaya has now won at least 2 matches in 3 straight tournaments. Kalinskaya looks to make the fourth round of a WTA 1000 for the third time in her career. Kalinskaya has 3 career wins over top-10 players. Kalinskaya has won 7 of her last 9 matches on clay court.

Elena Rybakina is coming off a straight set win over Jasmine Paolini that took 20 games to decide. In the victory, Rybakina won 64 percent of her first serve points and 48 percent of her second serve points. Rybakina won 57 percent of her total service points and converted on 5 of her 7 break points. Rybakina got 57 percent of her first serves in play and hit 6 aces. Rybakina looks to win two matches in a tournament for the first time since making the final in Miami. Rybakina looks to make the fourth round of a WTA 1000 for the sixth time in her career. Rybakina has never made the fourth round of the Italian Open. Rybakina has split her last 8 matches on clay court. 

The previous 2 meetings were split, as Rybakina won 2023 Miami in 3 sets and Kalinskaya won 2023 Madrid in 3 sets.

Rybakina is the better player at this stage and more proven in big tournaments. However, we can’t ignore two competitive matches this year between them and Kalinskaya getting the best on clay. This line is a bit disrespectful toward Kalinskaya.

I’ll take a shot with 2.5 times my money by backing Kalinskaya for the upset.