Anett Kontaveit vs Garbine Muguruza Odds & Prediction – WTA Kremlin Cup Quarterfinals

• No. 2 seed Garbiñe Muguruza will meet No. 9 Anett Kontaveit in the Moscow quarterfinals.
• With qualifying for the WTA Finals on the line, the match will take place Friday at 8:00 am ET
• Read on for match analysis and predictions

Garbiñe Muguruza will qualify for the WTA Finals in Guadalajara, Mexico next month if she wins on Friday.

Anett Kontaveit still has a shot. But she’s going to have to run the table in Moscow this week and at the Transylvania Open in Romania next week.

That’s a tall order. And it starts with an upset over the Spanish No. 2 seed

Anett Kontaveit vs Garbine Muguruza Odds

Odds as of Oct. 21 at DraftKings

Despite Ranking, Kontaveit the Favorite

As they enter play Friday, Kontaveit (ranked No. 20) and Muguruza (all the way back up to No. 5) boast near-identical won-loss records on the season.

But Kontaveit is on a better roll.

Muguruza is 12-5 since the Tour moved from grass to hard courts at the Olympics. But two of those wins came via walkovers at the Chicago 500 in August. And she lost her opener at Indian Wells.

Kontaveit is 16-5 – 16-2 after losing her opening matches at the Olympics, Canada and Cincinnati.  She reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells.

Anett Kontaveit vs Garbiñe Muguruza Head-to-Head

Two Straight-Sets Wins for Kontaveit

Even if she went rather deep at Indian Wells, Kontaveit arrived in Moscow and won both her matches in straight sets.

She wasn’t originally supposed to be seeded, which would have given her a different draw. But in the end, after the withdrawal of No. 6 seed  Angelique Kerber, she was slotted in that spot as the No. 9 seed.

Still, she ended up with a tough first round against Katerina Siniakova.

Kontaveit won that 6-3, 6-3, then took care of veteran German Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-4.

Muguruza found herself with a bit of a break after her early exit in the desert, and then a bye in the first round in Moscow.

That might have contributed to a tough opening round against Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic, who is having the best season of her career.

Muguruza prevailed, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. But it was a slog.  The two-hour, 45-minute marathon included 32 break points. Muguruza broke seven times in 18 opportunities. But Martincova broke her a concerning five times in 14 opportunities – even though Muguruza’s first serve went in at a 72 per cent rate.

Garbiñe Muguruza took a WC for Cluj Transylvania Open.

That means her schedule for the next few weeks is :
WTA 500 Moscow, 18 October-24 October

WTA 250 Cluj, 25 October-31 October

Billie Jean King Cup, 1th November-7th November

WTA Finals- 8th November-15th November pic.twitter.com/VKKRkatUsi

— Sebastien G. (@sebsharfam) October 15, 2021

It wasn’t much of a match to give her momentum for the tournament.

Anett Kontaveit vs Garbiñe Muguruza Match History

Kontaveit’s Return the Difference-Maker

The three previous meetings between the two were years ago – during a period when Muguruza was playing her best tennis and won both her Grand Slam titles.

But after the first match, both encounters were as tight as could be. On the quicker indoor clay in Stuttgart, Kontaveit even came back from the brink of defeat to win.

The fast indoor surface might help Muguruza in terms of being able to hit more winners against Kontaveit’s top-class defense. But that defense is just as effective on the faster court and the more balls Muguruza has to hit, the longer the rallies are, the more prone she is to make mistakes.

Different Levels of Motivation

Both will be highly motivated on Friday. With a win against Kontaveit, Muguruza is Guadalajara bound.

But just in case, she took a wild card into the Romanian tournament next week.

Kontaveit has committed to do everything she can to qualify for her first Tour finals. She will leave it all on the table.

And she’s playing better tennis.

Best Bet: Kontaveit (-160), in three sets (+255)