Jessica Pegula and Barbora Krejcikova will duke it out for their second group stage match on Wednesday. The winner still gets a chance to advance to the semifinal round of the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Pegula suffered her first loss in four matches against Coco Gauff in their group-stage duel on Monday. The US Open runner-up did not answer Gauff’s furious counterattacks, allowing her opponent to break five times and win 67 percent of her first serves. Krejcikova could not sustain her momentum after taking the first set of her group stage match with former world’s No.1 Iga Swiatek. Krejcikova, the 2024 Wimbledon Open winner, took the first set 6-4 but squandered a 3-0 lead in the second set, opening the doors for Swiatek to rally and force a deciding set. Capitalizing on Krejcikova’s meltdown, Swiatek stormed to a 5-0 lead in the third set and never looked back, posting a 4-6 7-5 6-2 victory over the Czech.
and Krejcikova are 1-1 in their head-to-head series. Pegula finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 US Open but has gone 3-3 since then. Krejcikova has also been inconsistent since winning the Wimbledon Open, winning 5 of her last 10 matches and 1 of her previous six assignments. Our money is on Pegula to win in straight sets. Krejcikova winning the first set in her match against Swiatek is not surprising, given that the Pole was still getting her feet wet after taking a lengthy break from the tour.
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