World number six Karolina Pliskova will be up against USA’s in-form Jessica Pegula in the third round of the 2021 WTA Dubai on Wednesday, March 10. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Karolina Pliskova v Jessica Pegula match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Karolina Pliskova v Jessica Pegula Head to Head
Their only previous meeting came as recently as the WTA Doha just week. The pair met at the quarterfinal stage and Pegula is in such a good form that she rolled over Pliskova without any trouble, winning 6-3, 6-1 to make it to the last four.
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Pliskova Grits Past Sevastova
It wasn’t the most straightforward opening matches for Pliskova, who had earlier gotten herself a first round bye. The Czech needed two hours and 13 minutes to get past Anastasija Sevastova, in a match that went into the third set, and one which had multiple twists and turns in the encounter.
Like in the first set, Sevastova broke early, only to lose her next two serves, and then had a couple of break-points to break back but Pliskova managed to hold on to her serve and won it 6-3.
Pliskova then broke her opponent early in the second set as well, racing off to a 5-3 lead but this time around she failed to serve out for the match. The Czech missed two match-points, saved three break-points before Sevastova finally broke through to take the set into a tie-breaker.
The former world number one then frittered away a 3-0 and 4-1 advantage to lose the set 7-5. Fortunately for Pliskova, she didn’t allow that to rankle her too much and the Czech broke her opponent twice in the final set to clinch a spot in the third round.
What Pliskova will hope for is to overturn her mediocre form that has seen her crash out after winning just one match in the tournament on two separate occasions. Her opponent, however, is in deadly form.
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Pegula Routs Mladenovic
While one expected Pegula to crash Yaroslava Shvedova’s party in the first round of the tournament, not too many thought she would repeat the dose against Kristina Mladenovic in the second round.
Mladenovic might not offer the same kind of opposition she would have had she been at her career-best of world number 10, but she is no pushover. And for Pegula register a 6-1, 6-2 victory over the Frenchwoman was the indicator of the kind of form she has been all season.
That the match even lasted an hour and 11 minutes was down to Mladenovic showing bit of a fight to begin with when she broke Pegula back in the third game. Unfortunately for her, that was the last game she won in the set as Pegula reeled off six in a row.
While Mladenovic did break back once in the second set, that was again the last time she won a game as Pegula raced off to an easy 6-1, 6-2 finish.
Having earlier made it to the semifinal as a qualifier in Dubai, Pegula looks to be in the kind of form that could see her register a breakthrough tournament win.
Pliskova v Pegula Prediction and Tip
It comes as no surprise that despite the difference in the rankings – Pegula’s 36th to Pliskova’s number six – it’s the American who is a favourite. Tipping her to edge this one.
Tip: Pegula to win: 8/11 (bet365)
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The 2021 WTA Dubai Open will be played from March 8 to 14. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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