Barbora Krejcikova (14) meets Andrea Petkovic in the second round of the Wimbledon on Thursday, July 1st, 2021.
Will Andrea Petkovic shock us all and knock out the Roland Garros champion here early at Wimbledon, or will Barbora Krejcikova be able to come out here ready to give it her best and gain some more momentum as she has gone 8 matches unbeaten at Grand Slams now?
Andrea Petkovic beat the short Italian, Jasmine Paolini, in 2 sets in the first round, showing us that she can beat a higher ranked opponent. However, I don’t see that match being much of an accomplishment for Andrea. Paolini is mainly able to compete in small clay court tournaments where the serve does not matter as much. On grass, she is so much less competitive and she was not able to hold her serve well, therefore having to focus on her return game. This allowed Petkovic to get infront and she got the win and spot in the second round.
Barbora Krejcikova has now won 8 matches in a row in Singles and she will want to keep this going as she aims to continue her fairytale month. Krejcikova will be happy with her performance in the first round, beating Clara Tauson in 2 sets 6-3/6-2. Barbora Krejcikova will want to not use any extra energy that she does not need to as she will want to preserve energy for later stages where she needs to be at her absolute best. Barbora will be confient coming into this second round match, but she needs to ensure she does not underestimate her opponent.
This is going to be the 1st meeting between both players, and I see this being a dominant performance by Barbora Krejcikova. Andrea only won her first round match in straight sets because she had a sub par opponent. Now that she is meeting a Grand Slam champion, she will not stand a chance with her game. Barbora is much more experienced and confident. She will not allow Andrea to find her rhythm and she will aim to get this match under her belt as fast as possible to shift her focus on later round matches which are more important.