Saturday in Rome features both the women’s singles and doubles championship matches, as well as both men’s singles semifinals.
Elena Rybakina has reached her third WTA 1000 final out of the last four, and is vying for the fifth title of her career against Anhelina Kalinina, who at 26-year-old has achieved the biggest final of her career, and is playing for her first-ever WTA title.
The men’s semifinals will reignite two contentious rivalries from the recent past, as Casper Ruud faces Holger Rune in a rematch from last year’s Roland Garros quarterfinals, and Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas face off for the 12th time.
The women’s doubles final will cap off the evening, featuring two of the top four seeds, as well as two of the top five singles players in the world.
With so many big matches on the day, this preview will briefly dive into all four.
Holger Rune (7) vs. Casper Ruud (4) – 1:00pm on Center Court
In the aforementioned French Open quarterfinal, Ruud prevailed 6-4 in the fourth. After the match, Casper criticized Holger’s behavior, and is one of many players to insinuate Rune acts immaturely on court. This will be their first meeting since that match.
Casper is 4-0 against Holger overall, with all four contests occurring on clay in 2021 or 2022. But in 2023, Rune is clearly having the better season. He is 26-9 overall, and 12-2 on clay, while Ruud is 15-9 overall, and 10-3 on clay. Both men arrive with one clay court title to their name this year – Rune won Munich, and Ruud won Estoril.
Yet Holger’s recent victories have been more impressive than Casper’s, especially his three-set win over Novak Djokovic in the last round. And despite their lopsided head-to-head, I expect Rune to score his first win over Ruud on Saturday.
Daniil Medvedev (3) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (5) – Second on Center Court
This rivalry started five years ago in Miami, when Medvedev and Tsitsipas had to be physically separated by the chair umpire while words were exchanged after Daniil won in three sets. Medvedev leads their rivalry 7-4, though Tsitsipas has now claimed four of their last six encounters. On clay, they’re 1-1.
Medvedev is now 37-5 this season, while Tsitsipas is 25-7. Stefanos has not dropped a set this fortnight, defeating two seeded players (Musetti, Coric). Medvedev has dropped one set, and earned a strong straight-set victory over Sascha Zverev.
But based on their more recent history, and on this surface, Tsitsipas is a considerable favorite to return to the Rome final for the second consecutive year.
Elena Rybakina (7) vs. Anhelina Kalinina (30) – Not Before 7:00pm on Center Court
Rybakina is 29-7 on the year, and into her fourth big final of the season (Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami). She defeated Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets on Friday evening.
Kalinina is 15-10 this season after her five wins this fortnight. She won two long three-setters in a row to reach her first final at this level, spending six-and-half hours on court in her victories over Beatriz Haddad Maia and Veronika Kudermetova.
Anhelina claimed their only previous meeting, which also occurred on clay. That was a three-set win last April in Charleston. But a year later, Elena has evolved into one of the WTA’s top players, with a dominating serve. Rybakina is the clear favorite to win this title on Saturday night.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula (1) vs. Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens (4) – Last on Center Court
This is the fourth final of the year for Gauff and Pegula, and they are playing for their third title of 2023. For Hunter and Mertens, this is their first final in their fifth tournament of the season. When these two teams met two months ago in the Miami quarterfinals, Gauff and Pegula prevailed in a third-set 10-point tiebreak. On Saturday, the Americans are the favorites to win again.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
