Wild-card entrant and former Cincinnati Open winner Kim Clijsters withdrew from her first round match against USA’s Jennifer Brady at the Western & Southern Open 2020 due to an abdominal injury.
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Kim Clijsters v Jennifer Brady Head to Head
This will be the first time Clijsters and Brady will face off in a competitive match. Clijsters had retired from the sport in 2012 and while Brady first played in 2010 her maiden full season came only after the Belgian’s retirement.
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Clijsters Coming off a Solid World TeamTennis Showing
The brouhaha around the former world number one’s return to tennis after more than seven years of retirement wasn’t one bit surprising and her performance in her maiden match back against Garbine Muguruza showed why.
Clijsters lost the first set of that opening round match at the Dubai Open easily but her comeback in the second made for solid headlines. She even had chances to wrap up the set and push the match into a third but in the end, the Australian Open runerup saw through to a straight-set victory.
Another fighting loss to Johanna Konta followed at Monterrey, which turned out to be the last time she played a WTA match but in the meantime the former world number one has kept herself busy. Featuring in the American team event, World TeamTennis, Clijsters won all her three matches – defeating Danielle Collins, Sloane Stephens and Olga Govortsova in them.
Can she take some of that form into this tournament, because she will need it against a player who has been in a rasping touch.
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Brady Could Well be a Dark Horse Here
It has been a year to remember for Brady so far. And it’s taken her to her career-best 40th-rank on the WTA ladder as a result of that.
After starting off in Brisbane as a qualifier who managed to make it to the quarterfinal by defeating Maria Sharapova and Ash Barty, Brady repeated that in Dubai too. Only this time, she went one better with a semifinal appearance, beating Elina Svitolina and Muguruza en route.
Since the break, Brady has kept active in the exhibition tournaments in the USA, featuring in three of them and having an 11-5 win-loss record in those. This included a five-match winning streak at the World TeamTennis for the Orange County Breakers.
However, Brady’s strongest showing came at the Lexington Open last week where she did not drop a set on her way to her maiden WTA title. Wins over Cori Gauff and Jil Teichmann underlined her class and she could well prove to be a handful here.
Kim Clijsters v Jennifer Brady Prediction & Tip
While Clijsters is our sentimental favourite and is quite a crafty player, we will be backing Brady to win this and in straight sets.
Tip: Brady to win in straight sets: 1/1 (bet365)
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