WTA Dubai Open: Karolina Pliskova vs Jessica Pegula 3/10/2021 Tennis Prediction

Second seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will face unseeded American Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16 at the 2021 Dubai Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Wednesday March 10th, 2021 at a time yet to be determined. This will be the second career matchup between the two players, having met in the Quarter-Finals in Doha last week with Pegula getting the win there. Can Pliskova avenge that defeat and advance to the Quarter-Finals?

Karolina Pliskova is currently ranked #6 in the world and is a former world number one. She has started the 2021 season poorly, compiling a modest 5-4 record thus far and will be eager to get her season back on track with a strong showing here in Dubai. She has struggled mightily with consistency over the past few years, mixing in tournament wins with early round losses which has been a trend for a while. She is clearly one of the best players in the world when she is focused and in form but it is difficult to tell when that will happen. She possesses a very strong all around game without any weaknesses. She had a very hard fought three set win over Anastasija Sevastova in the previous round where she largely struggled, but will be very happy to have gotten the win. She is clearly lacking in confidence now and will have to overcome that to defeat her in-form opponent. 

Jessica Pegula is currently ranked a career high #43 in the world and has had an outstanding start to the 2021 season, announcing herself on the world stage. She reached the Quarter-Finals at the Australian Open and has been fantastic here so far, coming through the Qualifying Event with ease before upsetting Jelena Ostapenko and Pliskova to reach the Semis. She plays an attacking brand of tennis and will be extremely confident here after getting the head to head win last week. If she can continue her rich vein of form from the past two weeks she definitely has a good chance of another upset but one has to wonder if fatigue will be catching up to her. 

This should be a very entertaining matchup. Pegula is in the form of her life and while Pliskova has been struggling, she is a former number one that is showing signs of life. I expect this to be three sets, with Jessica Pegula upsetting Karolina Pliskova for the second straight week.