 Arena Sabalenka vs. Barbara Kadrikova is the second quarterfinal for the ladies Australian Open for 2023. Both players have had different roads to get to this stage. Kadrikova started the tournament as the number 9 seed and will take on the wild card Hontama in the first round. After dropping the first set, would fight back to win 2-6-6-4-6-3. In the second round should take on Corpatch, there's no problem getting through in straights 6-2-6-2. In the third round should take on the qualifier Hunter, who had had an impressive road to get to this stage. After dropping the first set, Kadrikova would have to fight back to win again 4-6-7-5-6-3. In the fourth round should take on the teen sensation Andraeva, who had taken out Jabur in the second round. And again after dropping the first set, Kadrikova would fight back to win 4-6-6-3-6-2 to advance to the quarterfinal. Sabalenka entered the tournament as the number 2 seed and would take on Seidel in the first round. There's no problem getting through in straights 6-1-6-1. In the second round should take on Brenda Frivetova, another young phenom coming through the ranks. There's no problem for Sabalenka again winning in straights 6-3-6-2. In the third round should take on the 28th seed Sarenko, who she'd played a few times before. And Sabalenka destroyed her, winning 6-love-6-love, handing out the double bagel. In the fourth round should take on Anissa Mova, who had taken out Bodosa and Sampson over to get here. But again, Sabalenka looked too good getting through in straights 6-3-6-2 to advance to the quarterfinal. These two have played 6 times before, but Sabalenka holding their 5-1 head-to-head lead over Kadrikova. With Kadrikova's only win coming in Dubai last year. But that was three matches ago, and Sabalenka has gone on to win Indian Wells Miami and Stuttgart when she's played Kadrikova after having that one loss. Kadrikova's going to win this one. She needs to bring back what she did in that Dubai match. She kind of went away from it, and it looked like it was maybe after that match there was going to be a turning of the tide. But she went away from it, and she kind of didn't keep doing that. And I guess she caught herself a big 4 member before she really was. And Sabalenka maybe took that personal and hasn't given her a set or hasn't given her much back. So Kadrikova's got to be aggressive, got to move around, got to come to the net because she has some really clean volley. Sabalenka's going to win this one. It's all about the serve in the forehand. We know that that is how she won the Australian Open last year with big serves, with big ground strokes. And it is a quarterfinal, but she's been in before. She wins quarterfinals. We've seen that all of last year. She won every quarterfinal that she made. It's only the 70s in the final that became a problem at the end of the year. But she should be able to beat Kadrikova if she can play aggressive and hit that serve. This is an interesting matchup because, you know, Kadrikova did win in Dubai and it kind of did feel like maybe this is going to be good. But I reckon Sabalenka's got a number still and it's 5-1 in the head-to-head. And I'm going to go with Sabalenka in straights. I reckon Kadrikova might push Sabalenka in one of the sets, but I think Sabalenka gets her. It's just one of those awkward matchups for Kadrikova. And I don't know if she's going to be able to get the win, but Sabalenka in two. Let me know down in the comments below who you think is going to make the semis.