Damien Kayat previews Madison Keys vs Qinwen Zheng and Jennifer Brady vs Anhelina Kalinina in selected round of 32 matches of the Mubadala Citi Open, on the 1st of August 2023
2023 WTA Tour
WTA 250
Mubadala Citi Open
William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Centre (Outdoor Hardcourt)
Selected Round of 32 Matches – 1st August
Madison Keys 4/6 | Qinwen Zheng 21/20
This is set up to be a bit of a blockbuster opening tie at the Citi Open. Madison Keys has shown flashes of her glorious best on tour this year. She started the season in spectacular fashion, winning all five of her matches as she played a decisive role in America’s United Cup triumph.
She would actually go unbeaten until the 3rd round of the Aussie Open. She then experienced an early-season malaise before some decent clay-court results. But her season really caught fire during the grass-court swing. She captured his 7th career title in Eastbourne before a terrific quarterfinal run at Wimbledon.
A former US Open finalist, Keys has the type of power-based game that tends to thrive on these North American hardcourts. She lost the 2016 Canadian Open final but would go on to claim the 2019 Cincinnati Open title. She is a dark horse candidate for this year’s US Open title and she will be tough to beat this week.
Rising Chinese star Qinwen Zheng has enjoyed a real roller-coaster of a campaign. The 20-year-old started the season slowly before a semi-final run in Abi Dhabi highlighted her undoubted class.
She also reached her maiden WTA 1000 clay-court quarterfinal with a dogged performance in Rome. But she failed to pick up a single win during a frankly awful grass-court campaign. She took a wildcard to compete in last week’s Palermo Open and it turned out to be a fantastic decision.
The Chinese snapped a four-match losing streak to win her maiden WTA Tour title. It was further validation of her rising stock as a clay-court player. But I still think she has some way to develop before she can become a threat on faster surfaces.
Verdict: Keys to win in straight-sets
This will be the first career meeting between these two. Qinwen Zheng is one for the future and I can easily see her challenging for Slams in three years’ time. But Keys is a fearsome competitor who understands how to win on these North American hardcourts.
The 2017 US Open finalist is one of the biggest hitters on tour and I think she could overwhelm Zheng with her flat hitting style.
Jennifer Brady 8/5 | Anhelina Kalinina 42/100
Comebacks seem to be a bit of a theme on both tours at present. 28-year-old American Jennifer Brady faces an tough return to tour-level tennis after missing the better part of two years due to a shocking knee injury.
She returned to action with a round of 16 run at an ITF event in July. But this week will mark the first time in nearly two years that she plays in a tour-level event. Lest we forget, Brady was making massive strides prior to that dreadful bit of luck in Cincinnati.
She reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the 2020 US Open and would go one better with a run to the final of the 2021 Aussie Open. She very much fits the template of your successful modern-day player. She has an ultra-aggressive approach centered on a dominant serve. And she uses a decisive forehand to make short work of rallies.
But what kind of form can we reasonably expect of her following two years in the tennis doldrums?
This has been a surreal year for Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina. She started the year in encouraging fashion, reaching the quarterfinal in Hobart before a creditable 3rd round run at the Aussie Open.
But she then went 4-7 leading into this year’s Italian Open. And then she pulled off one of the shocks of the season with an unheralded run to the final in Rome. She beat the likes of Keys and Kudermetova in a performance that saw her burst into the top 20 in the world.
But she has failed to win back-to-back matches since Rome and she could be exactly the sort of opponent that an undercooked Brady needs.
Verdict: Brady to win in straight-sets
This will be their 2nd meeting, with Brady easily beating the Ukrainian when they met during the 2019 Doha qualifiers. I think this could be a fairly comfortable assignment for Brady- despite her absence from the court.
She has a rocket of a serve that can iron out some of the on-court rustiness. Also, Kalinina has been pretty dire on the hardcourts this year.
