Elena Rybakina - Iga Swiatek

In truth, there's no need to deceive ourselves, even though the H2H is 3:1 in favor of the Russian player and she has won all three last matches on hard courts, including the most recent one in 2021 at Cincinnati. However, she would have lost 2:0 here against Tauson, if it wasn't for the Dane's poor health in the second set. Despite being up 2:0 in the second set, she couldn't finish it and ended up losing. Linette and Gracheva are at a lower level. I also want to mention that Kudermetova often suffers from injuries in later stages of tournaments and often fails to advance, so I believe she is already exceeding her capabilities this season without having traveled far. As for Paolini, she either plays in a tournament or not. From what I saw against Gauff, she was very determined and also had good support. Gauff double faulted about 15 times out of frustration, so it could be a similar situation for Kudermetova. Plus, Gauff performs better in rallies compared to Kudermetova, and is motivated by the H2H record, as Paolini has improved her game on hard courts in recent years, except for her serve, which can still be a bit of a disadvantage, but she plays well on her opponent's side of the court.