Veronika Kudermetova vs Shuai Zhang - Korea Open Seoul Tennis Prediction and Pick 9/16/24

Veronika Kudermetova started the year inside the Top 20 but could be at risk of dropping outside the Top 50 at the end of the year. With a title defense in Tokyo coming up next month, the Russian needs to accumulate points at the 2024 Korea Open in Seoul.

Kudermetova is playing in this tournament for the first time and has had ample time to prepare, having left Guadalajara much earlier than she expected. That is because she blew an incredible 5-0 lead in the deciding set of her second-round match against Camila Osorio and lost the match. It will be interesting to follow her week here in Seoul and how she picks herself up from such a disappointing defeat.

Her opponent will be Shuai Zhang, who will once again use a special ranking to access the main draw of a WTA tournament. The Chinese player has lost a whopping 23 consecutive matches on Tour, which is an Open Era record, beating Vincent Spadea's longstanding 21-match winless streak. 

Zhang has had at least some success in doubles this season, making three finals, including at the 2024 US Open women's doubles tournament with Kristina Mladenovic. She is still chasing for that first win of the season in singles and the word shock would be an understatement if she manages to roll over Kudermetova in Seoul.

Veronika Kudermetova vs Shuai Zhang Head-To-Head

• Zhang remarkably leads the head-to-head 1-0, beating Kudermetova in Hobart, but that was four years ago.

Veronika Kudermetova vs Shuai Zhang Prediction

For a fleeting moment, we thought Zhang would end her dismal run at the US Open when she bagelled Ashlyn Krueger in the first set of their first-round match. But she quickly faded and lost in three sets to extend her disastrous losing streak. It would be an upset of biblical proportions if Kudermetova loses this one even on the back of her worst sequence of results.