Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Jessica Pegula will lock horns in the second round of the 2021 WTA Montreal on Wednesday, August 11. It will mark their first meeting in their careers and one both tennis players will want to win.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Jessica Pegula
When: Wednesday, August 11 – 18:30 EDT
Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Weather: Partly cloudy, 29°C
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Jessica Pegula go toe to toe in the second round of the WTA Toronto. This is one of the most exciting matchups of the round, considering that both players are ranked relatively high in the WTA Rankings. Pavlyuchenkova is in the #17 spot, while Pegula is currently sitting in the #30 position.
Another reason why an entertaining duel is expected this evening is that both players have been playing really good tennis lately. Although neither of them has won a tournament this year, the two have pretty good records in 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has an 18-12 record this year, while Pegula’s record is 29-14.
Oddsmakers Favor Pavlyuchenkova
The Russian player is the favourite in the bookmakers’ eyes, with the odds being somewhere in the ballpark of 1.72. One of the reasons for that is that her WTA rank is better than that of her opponent.
Then, there’s also the fact that Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has won her first match of the 2021 WTA Montreal in straight sets. Her opponent was the WTA #63, Caroline Garcia.
However, that win marked only her sixth on the hardcourt this year. In 2021, Pavlyuchenkova lost seven matches on hard courts, all of which happened against lower-rated players. In fact, all of the players she defeated were ranked below Pegula as well.
On the bright side, Pavlyuchenkova has made it to the quarter-finals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she had to admit defeat to the eventual Olympics singles champion and doubles runner-up, Belinda Bencic.
Pegula Doing Well on the Hardcourt
Excluding her first years in professional tennis, Pegula only once finished the season with more hardcourt defeats than wins. Her record on this surface has been positive in eight of the past nine years. In 2019 and 2020, she secured 18 hardcourt victories each time, and in 2021, she’s already at that number!
Her hardcourt record on the year is 18-6, while her overall of 28-13 is the best in her career. You can be sure that she has no intention of messing things up, which is why we expect her to give her utmost at the WTA Montreal.
She didn’t impress in Round 1, considering she needed three sets to make it into the second stage. That said, she had to face WTA’s no.29, Anett Kontaveit, who is a very tough opponent that rarely crashes out of the first round of play at tournaments.
What’s more, Pegula only struggled in the first set, which her opponent won 7-5. The next two were fairly straightforward for Pegula, who won with 6-3, 6-3.
Pegula enters this match with a 3-2 record in her last five, which includes wins against Caroline Garcia (2-0), Cori Gauff (2-1), and Kontaveit (1-2). During that stretch, her only two losses came against Liumdila Samsonova (2-1) and Bencic (0-2).
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Jessica Pegula Betting Picks
Although it’s hard to say what to expect from this match, as Pavlyuchenkova and Pegula have never faced before, the chance is that this is going to be a thrilling duel.
Neither outcome would surprise us, but we do think Pegula has it in her to edge out a win. Furthermore, the odds of 2.10 on Pegula make this bet really attractive in our eyes.
Prediction: Jessica Pegula to win – 2.10 Bet365
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