 Veronica Kudabatova versus Annalena Kalanina is the first semi-final for the ladies roam open for 2023. And both ladies have been very impressive to get to this stage. Kalanina started the tournament off as the 30th seed and we're going to buy in the first round. In the second round she'll take on Blinkova. There's no problem for Kalanina getting through in straight sets. 6-2, 6-2. In the third round she'll take on Sofia Kenan who had just demolished the number two seed Sabalinka in the previous round. There's no problem for Kalanina getting through in straight sets. 6-4, 6-2. In the fourth round she'll take on Madison Keyes who had been given a walk over victory against Azarenka in the previous round. And after dropping the first set Kalanina would fight back getting through in 3-2, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals Kalanina would take on the number 12 seed Hadajmaia who she'd played three times previously. And this match was brutal. After losing the first set she'd have to come back to win in a three hour and 45 minute match 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals. Kudabatova entered the tournament as the number 11 seed and we're going to buy in the first round. In the second round she'll take on Diaz. This was no problem for Kudabatova getting through in straights 7-5, 6-2. In the third round she'll take on the 23rd seed Potapova who she had had to battle through last week in Madrid. And this was no different. Going to a third set with Kudabatova eventually winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to get to the fourth round. In the fourth round she'll take on the 27th seed Buskova who had just taken our goff in three sets. And this was so far the easiest match for Kudabatova getting through in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals Kudabatova would take on the number 22 seed Zhang. And after dropping the first set she'd have to fight back to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals. They still have played twice before with their recent meeting being in Dubai a couple of months ago with Kalanina winning 7-5 in a third set. This would be a clay court so the conditions would be a lot slower than they were back then. Kalanina is going to win this one. She needs to get everything back. Kudabatova is probably going to be the more aggressive player on this surface even though she's good on clay. So Kalanina is going to have to really be defensive but also it's probably going to come down to fitness as well because coming off a three and a half hour match is going to be brutal. Kudabatova is going to win this one. She needs to be aggressive but she also wouldn't mind the match going for maybe two hours plus because of course the fitness levels of Kalanina after that epic match she played in the quarter-finals might come back to her the longer the match goes here. So Kudabatova doesn't need to play a fast match but maybe wearing a Kalanina wouldn't be a bad idea. This is going to be a really fun matchup. We haven't seen these two play in this stage of a big event like this but I'm going to go with Kudabatova. She's been in such good form on the clay the last couple of weeks and she has the experience level at this level of course being a higher-ranked player. I think she might get the job done especially on the clay courts as well. Let me know down in the comments below who's making the final of Rome.