Caty McNally had to scratch and claw her way to a victory over Anhelina Kalinina in the Round of 64 at the Credit One Charleston Open on Monday. However, the American should be better off after having come through that war, and she’ll now turn her attention to a meeting with Anna Kalinskaya on Wednesday, April 2nd. Kalinskaya is a phenomenal player—she was the world No. 11 as recently as October of 2024—who won 33 matches last season. However, given the Russian’s 4-7 record to start the 2025 season, it’s hard not to view this as a winnable match for McNally. So, I’m backing the American at plus-money odds.
Not only did McNally beat Kalinina on Monday, but she played at an extremely high level for a good chunk of that match. After going down 4-1 in the opening set, McNally won 15 out of the next 22 games. She was really looking dangerous as a ball-striker, she mixed her shots up well and she just looked a lot like the player that was world No. 54 back in May of 2023. McNally has also had a ton of time to get her feet wet on clay, as she beat Arina Rodionova and Claire Liu in qualifying. That’s three clay-court matches at a venue she really enjoys.
