WTA Dubai 2023: Swiatek vs Samsonova Tennis Prediction & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 WTA Dubai Tennis Championships as Iga Swiatek takes on Liudmila Samsonova in the third round on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

Who is stopping Iga Swiatek? On current form, it would take bravery and courage to bet against the Pole not to win the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships. But Liudmila Samsonova might have a trick or two up her sleeve that could shock the world No. 1. So who will prevail?

Iga Swiatek’s dominance of the WTA Tour is gathering pace in astonishing fashion. After romping to win the title in Doha, Swiatek showed no empathy to her opponent Leylah Fernandez in her first match at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships. The Pole dropped two games in an incredible blowout. She has now dropped a mere seven games in five matches.

Liudmila Samsonova, for her part, received a walkover after her second-round opponent Qinwen Zheng withdrew due to abdominal pain. That should come as welcome relief for Samsonova who played in the longest WTA match of the year so far in scraping past Paula Badosa 6-7 7-6 6-4 in three hours and 22 minutes. Samsonova will have the toughest tennis in women’s tennis right now as she locks horns with Iga Swiatek at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships.

Iga Swiatek leads Liudmila Samsonova 1-0 in their head-to-head. The Pole won their semifinal encounter at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart last year in three sets. At the time we marveled at the accomplishment of winning a set against Swiatek. Samsonova was one of only three players to do so against the Pole on the clay in 2022. The Russian has the tools to make life a little complicated for Swiatek at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships. Her ground stroke power has to be on point and she cannot afford to give away cheap points in form of double faults because Swiatek will be winning over 80% of their duels. We are running out of superlatives to describe Swiatek’s dominance. It’s tough to imagine an upset here even if Samsonova played out of her mind.