Liudmila Samsonova vs Belinda Bencic Prediction & Betting Tips - Abu Dhabi Open

Prediction published on 11/02/2023, 17:33  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 12/02/2023 at 00:00 in Tennis Predictions

Second seeded Belinda Bencic faces the eighth seeded Liudmila Samsonova in the Abu Dhabi Open final. Bencic is bidding to win her second WTA Tour tournament of the year. The world number nine has only previously managed to win two WTA Tour titles in a year, the last time being four years ago. Already this year he has won the second Adelaide International tournament and then went on to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open. Her only two losses this year have been inflicted by Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, aka the current top two ranked players in the world. This week has seen the Swiss player win each of her three matches in straight sets and only conceded five games in her sem-final win over sixth seeded Beatrez Haddad-Maia. Bencic will stay ninth in the world rankings whatever the result of this match. In terms of the rankings based on points earned this season, Bencic is in third position.

Liudmila Samsonova began this tournament ranked a career high 19th. Her run to this final has seen her climb to 15th and beating Bencic will see her go up to 12th place. The Russian is in her first WTA Tour final since losing the Tokyo final last September. Samsonova hadn't made the best of starts to the new year before this week in Abu Dhabi with two wins and a couple of defeats. The second round of the Australian Open was reached but the Russian only won three games against Donna Vekic who was ranked 64th at the time. This week has been tough at times for Samsonova with two of her four matches going to the final set. Former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova have both been beaten this week. Her record against Bencic is a good one with three wins out of three. Two went to a final set and all of the matches took place in 2021. Bencic has started the year well and can finally get a win over Samsonova.