Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA 1000 Miami Open match.
Veteran of women’s tennis Victoria Azarenka will face an equally experienced but less accomplished opponent, Anhelina Kalinina.
Anhelina Kalinina
The Ukrainian is 23 places behind Azarenka in the rankings—currently 55th—but has won more matches this year. Primarily because, at 28 years old, she enters more tournaments—already eight this season. In some, she experiences early eliminations, like from the Australian Open and the WTA 500 event in Linz, while in others, she advances further. This was the case in Brisbane, where Kalinina only lost in the semi-final to Russian player Polina Kudermetova (4:6, 3:6), and in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where she reached the quarter-finals before being defeated by another Belarusian, Aliaksandra Sasnovich (6:2, 4:6, 6:7).
Victoria Azarenka
A former world No. 1 a long time ago, Azarenka now plays infrequently—understandably so at 35. In 2024, she competed in 15 tournaments, all of them at least WTA 500 level. This year, the Miami Open will be her sixth event. So far, her best result in 2025 has been reaching the round of 16 in Brisbane. At similar tournaments to this one, such as Dubai, she did not progress past the round of 32, losing to Iga Świątek (0:6, 2:6).
Anhelina Kalinina vs Victoria Azarenka Prediction
Just before her match against the world No. 2, Victoria Azarenka played against Anhelina Kalinina. Like their first encounter in Adelaide in 2023 (7:6, 7:6), it was a tough battle (2:6, 7:6, 6:4), but once again, the more experienced Belarusian prevailed. She indeed has the better chances to win, but we believe that even if Kalinina loses, it will only be after a hard-fought contest.
