Tennis
2026-02-13 - Maria Sakkari vs Karolina Muchova
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : WTA 1000 Doha Semi Final
Friday 13th February 2025 - Scheduled 7:30pm
4:30pm (British Time)
Preview
After dropping the first set in her Quarter Final match against Iga Swiatek, Maria Sakkari was a significant underdog to progress.
Not only is the 30 year old dropping down the World Rankings, but Swiatek had not been beaten in her previous 109 WTA 1000 level matches after taking the opening set.
The World Number 52 has had to spend two and a half hours on the court in the Quarter Final, but that victory will be pushing Maria Sakkari back up towards the top 30 in the World Rankings. She will have taken a lot of confidence from the win over the top Seed in Doha and Maria Sakkari has put together four good wins in the tournament to move into the Semi Final.
After a decline in 2025, Sakkari will be feeling much better about her level of performance in the early events in 2026 and she will certainly feel she has the tennis to give Karolina Muchova plenty to think about.
One mid-match withdrawal aside, Karolina Muchova has eased through the draw and her win over Anna Kalinskaya in the Quarter Final continues her fine form.
She has faced a much more manageable part of the draw compared with Maria Sakkari who has two top ten wins on the board.
However, Karolina Muchova has been playing at a higher level on the hard courts over the last twelve months and she has been winning a lot of tennis matches on the surface since the beginning of January.
With the upsets that have taken place in the tournament, Karolina Muchova will feel there is a big opportunity for her to win the title here, while that may be good enough to earn her a return to the top ten herself.
Both players have been backing up the serve very effectively here in Doha, but it is Karolina Muchova who has been getting slightly more out of that shot. It is the World Number 19 who has also been the slightly more effective return player and that could show up in this latest meeting between the two veterans of the Tour.
They have not faced one another since August 2023 when Karolina Muchova beat Maria Sakkari on the hard courts of Cincinnati, but it was a match that went the distance. Back then Maria Sakkari was the higher Ranked player and it may be tough for her to bridge the gap, especially having put in so much physical and mental effort to win the Quarter Final on Thursday.
Prediction
Lay the games with the higher Ranked player in this Semi Final between two veterans.
The Pick :
Maria Sakkari 0-2 Karolina Muchova
