The WTA Hobart International 2025 quarterfinalists will be on court on Thursday, January 9 with Amanda Anisimova, Sofia Kenin and Dayana Yastremska in action on the day. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Hobart.
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Dayana Yastremska v McCartney Kessler Preview
Head-to-Head: Their only previous meeting came in a WTA 125 competition in 2023 and Yastremska had won it in three sets with the final set going into a tie-breaker that ended 11-9 in her favour.
For the second time in a row, Dayana Yastremska was involved in a three-setter in this tournament and for the second time she lost the first set rather convincingly.
But just when one thought that it was a matter of time before her opponent eases to a match win, Yastremska has held her own before clinching a three-set win.
After getting broken three times in the first set by Ann Li, Yastremska had a chance to serve out the second set at 5-2 but dropped her serve two more times. She eventually won the set, fell 0-2 behind again before breaking Li twice to wrap up a wondering, swinging battle.
She faces another American in the quarterfinals, McCartney Kessler who had no difficulty in getting past Maria Carle Lourdes in her match. After having dispelled Rebecca Sramkova in the first round in straight sets, Kessler cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the second.
Kessler, who has a career-best ranking of 63rd in the world, will now hope to keep serving as well as she did in the previous round – she lost only 15 points off her own serve – against a far superior opponent.
Yastremska v Kessler prediction: Kessler to win: 4/6
Amanda Anisimova v Elina Avanesyan Preview
Head-to-Head: Anisimova and Avanesyan have never played each other before this.
Following her opening round ouster at the Auckland Open last week, Amanda Anisimova needed a strong performance in the second week of the season to be able to enter the Australian Open with a semblance of confidence.
So far in this tournament, Anisimova has managed to regain some of that confidence back.
The American had dropped just six games in her demolition of Daria Saville in her opening round encounter and continued in the same vein when she faced Anna Bondar.
Anisimova was on court for an hour and nine minutes and faced just one break-point against Bondar – which she saved – on her way to a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
What makes this an interesting battle is Elina Avanesyan has been in some form of her own. When the going got tough in two of the rounds at the Brisbane International, Avanesyan dug deep to win two of the rounds in three sets – this included a victory over Paula Badosa.
Here, Avanesyan has found a way to get going and eased to straight-set wins over Xiyu Wang and Greet Minnen. Against Minnen, she needed just 64 minutes to come through.
This could be a tough battle as a result with Avanesyan holding a slight edge.
Anisimova v Avanesyan prediction: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Sofia Kenin v Maya Joint Preview
Head-to-Head: This will be the first meeting between Kenin and Joint.
Following her second round exit at the Auckland Open, Sofia Kenin has tried to turn things around here in Hobart and has been successful to some extent.
The former Australian Open winner, who fell out of the radar because of fitness-related concerns, has managed to recapture some of her old fight, if not form, and won successively in three sets.
Kenin started off with a comeback from behind win over Lulu Sun in the opener and was then taken to three sets yet again in the second round by Anna Blinkova. The good news is that Kenin was able to thwart her opponents and when the time was right, attacked right back to put herself in front.
Maya Joint will be an interesting opponent in that she has the momentum and Kenin might not know a lot about her given that the Aussie hasn’t been around for any length of time. Joint is just 18 and following a second round appearance at the Brisbane International last week, has now won back to back matches here to reach the quarterfinal.
She defeated Olga Danilovic in her opener and then stunned Poland’s Magda Linette in the second, winning in such quick time that the late-comers to the stadium might have missed most of the action. Joint needed 61 minutes to get past Linette, winning 6-1, 6-1.
One can expect the Aussie to dish out something similar here and while she is 11/10 to win this, we could see an overturning of the odds here.
Kenin v Joint prediction: Joint to win: 11/10
Elise Mertens v Veronika Kudermetova Preview
Head-to-Head: They have played each other six times on the WTA Tour and Mertens leads Kudermetova 4-2.
After opting out of the first tournament of the season last week, Elise Mertens has made a strong return to tennis this week in Hobart with successive straight-set wins.
The Belgian, who is currently 34th in the world, did not have the best of seasons in hardcourt competitions last year but her start here would make her believe again. Believe that she can get back close to her career-best ranking of 12th in the world.
And that’s down to the manner in which she defeated Nuria Parrizas-Diaz and Renata Zarazua in the first two rounds. While she was an odds-on favourite to win those matches, there’s always an early season rustiness that can make these encounters a banana peel.
Mertens defied that to clinch them both easily and will now be raring to go against an out-of-sorts Veronika Kudermetova.
Kudermetova was ninth in the world at one stage but is now 77th and coming off a first round defeat in Brisbane last week.
She has covered a few things up here with successive straight-set wins too, defeating Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Camila Osorio in the process but her real test begins here against Mertens and that could go a long way in deciding where she lands up this year, ranking-wise.
Mertens v Kudermetova prediction: Mertens to win: 7/10
