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WTA Stuttgart Open 2021 Quarterfinals: Elina Svitolina vs Petra Kvitova Preview, Head-to-Head & Prediction
The WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2021 has reached the quarterfinals stage and has some exciting matchups coming up. One of them is between the defending champion Petra Kvitova and World No. 5 Elina Svitolina.
Elina Svitolina vs Petra Kvitova: Preview
The 31-year-old Czech professional has found it hard to run deep into the tournaments for quite sone time. However, Petra Kvitova ended her two-year title-less drought, winning Qatar Open this year.
Coming into the quarterfinals, she outplayed Australian Open 2021 finalist Jennifer Brady and Greek professional Maria Sakkari. She will look forward to spending a few more days in Germany.
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The two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Elina Svitolina has inarguably underperformed in 2021. She has reached the last-16 stage three times but couldn’t convert to something bigger.
Positively, her best of the season came at the previous tournament, the Miami Open, where she reached the semifinals. She also has two consecutive wins under her belt coming from the Fed Cup playoffs against Japan.
Both they are in-form and would be eyeing to set up their rhythm for the following clay-court swing.
Svitolina vs Kvitova: Head-to-Head
Former World No.2 has a 7-4 lead against the Ukrainian star in their head-to-head battles. But interestingly, Elina has won their last three encounters, including the finale of the 2018 WTA Finals.
The 26-year-old also got the better of Kvitova when they played for the first time in the 2014 Cincinnati Masters. After that, the Czech won seven straight matches against Svitolina.
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Svitolina vs Kvitova: Prediction
Petra has threatened her opponents most with her deadly backhand groundstrokes. It will give her a solid chance for a win if she manages to connect them in the quarterfinal.
However, the Czech professional would be wary of her next competitor, who has impeccable return ability. Thus, she would need to up her game to her ultimate best to get past the Ukrainian.
Even then, the fourth seed looks more promising coming in this match. Elina will engage Petra in longer rallies and force her to cause errors. Also, keeping her service percentage up, she will continue to put pressure on the seventh seed.
But this is tennis, and Kvitova is the defending champion, so you never know. What is clear is that it would be a high-quality tennis match.
Prediction: Svitolina to win in three sets.
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