Simona Halep vs. Elena Rybakina 2/22/20 - Dubai Tennis Championship Picks & Predictions
Last Updated: 02/21/2020 at 9:39 PM ET
Simona Halep is set to play against Elena Rybakina in the final of the 2020 WTA Dubai Tennis Championships.
Elena Rybakina has been in tremendous form in 2020 as she has made the final of 3 out of the 4 tournaments she has played at. Rybakina won the Hobart International earlier in the season and she has continued her good form at this tournament. Elena Rybakina has already defeated Karolina Pliskova in Dubai and she continued her good form in the previous round where she beat Petra Martic in straight sets. Elena Rybakina won 75% of her service games and 3 return games to win the contest. Considering her recent form, Elena Rybakina will be optimistic about her chances of winning this match.
On the other side of the coin, Simona Halep defeated Jennifer Brady in straight sets in the previous round. It was a dominant display by Halep as she only lost 2 games in the entire match. The receiving was especially strong from Simona Halep as she won 58% of her receiving points which allowed her to break her opponent’s serve on 5 occasions. Halep has been in good form in 2020 as she made the semifinals of the Australian Open. This could be a potentially tough match for Simona Halep as she is playing an opponent in outstanding form.
Simona Halep and Elena Rybakina have played each other once in the past. The match was played in 2019 at Wuhan where Elena Rybakina won after Halep was forced to retire.
This should be a close match between two players who are in outstanding form. With that in mind, I am going to pick Elena Rybakina to win this match. While Simona Halep is an elite player, I don’t see her playing at the level that Elena Rybakina is producing at the moment. Elena Rybakina has been the hottest player on the WTA tour and I see her being good enough to win the match and the title.
