Rebecca Sramkova v Anna Kalinskaya (07/10/2025)

Anna Kalinskaya arrived in Asia after a much-needed change of pace. The Russian ended up winning more matches in her four tournaments in Canada and the United States (11) than she could in the first six months of the season (10), leading to a final in Washington, a quarterfinal in Cincinnati, and third rounds in Montreal and the US Open.

In addition to beating six top-50 players from D.C. to New York, the former world No. 11 has consolidated her place in the top-50 rankings. Nevertheless, she ran into strong resistance in her very first match of the Asian swing and went down to Camila Osorio in Beijing, her eighth opening-round loss of the season.

Rebecca Sramkova was having a magical time in the months of September to November last year. In addition to winning her maiden career title in Hua Hin, the Slovak also came away with runner-up finishes in Monastir and Jiujiang, and settled with a third-round finish in Beijing where she played as a qualifier.

Those successes allowed the 28-year-old late breakout player to rise as high as No. 33 in the rankings. However, she has spectacularly failed to back up her breakthrough and instead has ended up with an 18-24 performance in main draw matches in the 2025 season, at best going as far as the semifinal in Nottingham.

Head-to-head: 0-0. Both players are looking for their first win in over a month. Rebecca Sramkova — like the Russian — also kicked off her Asian swing at the China Open and bowed out to Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round. Anna Kalinskaya does seem to carry the better form into this match and should be regarded as the favorite.