The second seeded Elina Svitolina will be in the first round action against Jessica Pegula when the two of them meet in the 2021 WTA Abu Dhabi. This match is expected to be played on Wednesday or Thursday, January 6 or 7, with the match timings still to be announced. Get the live streaming options of this Elina Svitolina v Jessica Pegula match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Elina Svitolina v Jessica Pegula Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between Svitolina and Pegula at the highest level.
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Svitolina with a Mixed 2020 Season
Two WTA titles in a severely-curtailed previous season for Svitolina indicates a decent showing in the year, especially given those title wins came at Monterrey on hard court and Strasbourg on clay.
That Strasbourg Open title was followed by a deep run at the French Open where Svitolina made it to the quarterfinal, but those three results aside, the world number five did not have the best of the seasons.
A third round exit at the Australian Open and another early ouster at the Hua Hin Open were all a part of an underwhelming run on hard court surfaces last year, which also saw her crash out at both, the Dubai and Doha competitions in her opening round.
Svitolina, who had won a whopping nine titles in 2017 and 2018 combined, will now hope she can show that kind of form coming into this first tournament of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Up against her is a stiff opponent who is coming off a solid previous season.
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Pegula Loves Playing on Hard Court
USA’s world number 63 has one title to her name and that came on the hard courts of the Washington Open in 2019. Last season, while she would have loved to have done a lot better, the American’s best showing came on hard court again.
This was at the very beginning of the season when she defeated Alize Cornet and Caroline Wozniacki en route the final of the Auckland Open before going down to Serena Williams.
Pegula, however, went off the boil after that, losing in the first round at the Australian Open and featuring in only one WTA tournament after that before the pandemic struck.
While Pegula had a good run at the World TeamTennis during the break for the virus, she played in only three tournaments after her return to the circuit. As a qualifier, Pegula did well to make it to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, and then made a third exit at the US Open before featuring in her last tournament of the season on clay at the French Open.
She lasted all of one match there but now returns to start the season on her favourite surface.
Svitolina v Pegula Prediction and Tip
Things are a lot harder to predict at the start of the season and despite the obvious gulf between the two players’ rankings, we will refrain from calling Svitolina a clear-cut favourite. If anything, we are looking at a tough battle that lasts three sets.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/4 (bet365)
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The 2020 Abu Dhabi Open will be played from January 6 to 13. You can watch & bet on the Abu Dhabi Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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