The American received a bye to the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament thanks to her participation in the Toray Pan Pacific Open tournament in Tokyo. Finished second in Japan, Pegula crushed Christina Buscha 6-1, 6-2 and Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 to set up a semifinal meeting with Maria Sakkari.
Pegula put in a strong performance against the Greek and beat her 6-2, 6-3 to book her place in the final against Veronica Kudermetova. In the final, Pegula only resisted in the first set and lost it 5-7, then in the second there was a one-wicket game and the American lost the second set 1-6.
Anna Blinkova qualified for the China Open after being eliminated in the second round of the Ningbo Open. The Russian faced Donna Vekic in the first round and was the underdog of the match, considering the Croatian’s performance this season.
Blinkova started the match well, winning the first set 6–3 to take the lead. Vekic put up some resistance in the second set, but the Russian won 7-5 to book her place in the second round in Beijing.
Pegula leads 1-0 against Blinkova, after eliminating the Russian 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of this season’s Charleston Open.
Forecast for the match Jessica Pegula – Anna Blinkova
Pegula will enter the match as the favorite to win given her current form, and it will take something truly special from Blinkova to beat her.
The American hits very powerfully and likes to attack from the baseline. She also has excellent defensive skills and her doubles experience comes in handy as well. However, Pegula will have to be careful not to make too many unforced errors.
Blinkova had nine aces in her previous match and will look to land even more serves directly against the American. The Russian will have to dominate her serves, and while Anna will have to attack well, she will also have to defend decently to counter Pegula’s intensity and force her to make mistakes.
However, the American is now in very good form and will probably have no difficulty beating Blinkova, which would secure her a place in the third round of the China Open.
Forecast: Pegula will win in straight sets.
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
