Ostapenko vs. Kalinina: Preview and betting tips

The quarter-final match between world No.14 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, 22 places lower, will be played in Eastbourne on Thursday 23 June 2022. The tournament is played on grass and the better-seeded tennis player will be the logical favourite in this match.

Ostapenko experienced her career high so far in the very first season she spent at the majors. It was 2017, in which she dominated the French Open and reached the 7th place of the ranking.

Meanwhile, she was only in the top 5 and her seasons are very erratic. However, she is currently on the rise and heading back into the top 10. Overall, she has 5 WTA titles and 3 from ITF tournaments. Last year she dominated the Eastbourne tournament.

Her opponent’s performance is much more stable. She finished 2020 at 163rd, the next year at 52nd and at the moment she is 36th in the world rankings. So she is clearly on an upward trend. So far, the Ukrainian has managed to dominate only 6 ITF tournaments.

In this match, the Latvian is the favourite due to her position. But if we look at the results on grass so far, it certainly doesn’t look like a clear-cut match. Although Kalinina dropped out early in tournaments in Germany and the Netherlands, where she faced very good opponents, it was not a flop.

Then came this tournament in Eastbourne. In the 1st round, the match was not played due to the Romanian opponent’s scratching, Cirstea did not finish. In the 2nd round came a very valuable scalp of world number five Maria Sakkari. In the 8th round, Putintseva went undefeated.

Ostapenko has played only 3 complete matches on grass this year. In Birmingham she played her 1st match against the 107th player from Canada, Rebecca Marino, who won a set. But then the tournament came to an end, which was secured by the 74th player in the world Diana Yastremska.

Personally, I don’t see the Latvian tennis player as a clear favourite, as the odds suggest. A week ago she managed to drop out with the 74th player and a set was taken from her by a player from the second world hundred.

On the other hand, Kalinina is not in bad form at all and 4 days ago she knocked Maria Sakkari out of the tournament. Therefore, I believe that the Ukrainian will play at least one set in the match and her advancement would not surprise me.