Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
Monday, July 29, 2024
Jessica Pegula -103 / Elina Svitolina -121 Click Here for the Latest Odds
Where to Watch: USA: NBC, UK: BBC Sport, Australia: Nine, Africa: Supersport
Jessica Pegula will square off against Elina Svitolina in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics tennis tournament. The match is scheduled for Monday, July 29, 2024. Here's our Jessica Pegula vs Elina Svitolina prediction.
Jessica Pegula vs Elina Svitolina Preview
Jessica Pegula played her first match on the European clay and it was a tricky one. Up against Switzerland's one-hander Viktorija Golubic, the World No. 6 was slow off the blocks as she dropped her serve to begin the contest.
Pegula then trailed 1-3 in the first set but reeled off 11 of the next 15 games to turn the match on its head and prevail in straight sets. The match lasted an hour and 17 minutes, with the American accounting for 25 winners and 23 unforced errors. She had greater success in her return games, winning six of nine from her breakpoint conversion rate.
Elina Svitolina is a bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics. It's been an emotional couple of years for Svitolina, given what is happening back in her homeland of Ukraine. For the 29-year-old, success on the tennis court is her voice and platform for inspiring those in the firing line in the ongoing war.
Svitolina began her Paris Olympics journey with a fine performance against Japan's Moyuka Uchijima, which took 15 games to decide. The former World No. 3 excelled from the baseline in a near-perfect display that took only an hour. She broke her opponent's serve on five occasions, although she will need a much-improved performance of her own against Pegula on Monday.
Jessica Pegula vs Elina Svitolina Head-To-Head
• Pegula leads Svitolina 4-1 in their head-to-head in WTA meetings.
Jessica Pegula vs Elina Svitolina Prediction
Despite the lopsided head-to-head record, Svitolina enters this match as the slight favorite, according to the oddsmakers. The primary reason for that is the surface. All five of the previous meetings have been contested on hard courts, with three of those on US soil. Pegula has always come out on top.
But clay tends to bring the best out of Svitolina. She excels in playing the role of counterpuncher much more effectively on it, and she has that element of aggressiveness in her groundstrokes these days because of her increased risk appetite. It also has to be mentioned that Pegula has not played a lot of clay-court tennis this year after sustaining an injury before the start of the European clay swing. We're looking at Svitolina to keep the Ukrainian flag flying at the tournament.
Nur’s Pick Elina Svitolina in three sets
AUTHOR: Nur Said
