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Simona Halep vs Ekaterina Makarova Tennis Prediction

Halep leads the head-to-head record against Makarova by 4-2, including winning their last meeting at Doha this year (6-2 6-0). This will be their first clay meeting and, not surprisingly, is expected to give more advantage to the world #1.

Simona Halep News

World #1 Simona Halep did not have the start to the clay season she was looking for, as she lost to the eventual finalist Coco Vandeweghe 6-4 6-1 in the quarterfinal of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, last month.
The position of world #1 is up for contention once again. Halep lost it briefly after losing the Australian Open final to Wozniacki, only to regain it back after Doha. To seal the top rank, Halep must reach the final or hope for Wozniacki not to reach the final four.
Halep is the third player to have lifted the Mutua Madrid Open trophy twice, after Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova. Madrid, along with 2015 Indian Wells, remains the Romanian’s biggest achievements, who has lost three Grand Slam finals.
Halep has amassed 22 wins in the season so far, which includes an International title at Shenzhen (def. Siniakova). Apart from the Australian Open final, she has also reached semifinals in Doha (withdrew due to ankle) and Indian Wells (l. Osaka 6-3 6-0).

Ekaterina Makarova News

Former world #8 Ekaterina Makarova is arriving at Madrid on the back of a four-match losing run, which includes a couple of Fed Cup losses to Sevastova and Ostapenko (indoor clay) and a first-round exit at Istanbul (l. to Krunic 1-6 6-1 6-4).
The loss at Istanbul was Makarova’s first WTA opening-round exit of the season, who would then go on to lose the second round every single time. She has an overall season w/l of 6/10.
Makarova, currently ranked #32, is a former quarterfinalist of Madrid (2013, def. Safarova, Azarenka, and Bartoli), but hasn’t progressed beyond the second round since then (l. to Bertens 6-1 7-6 last year).

Tennis Prediction: Simona Halep 2-0 SET
Odds: 1.70