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Match Details
Fixture: (2) Jessica Pegula vs Anna Blinkova
Date: October 2, 2023
Tournament: China Open 2023
Round: Second round (Round of 64)
Venue: National Tennis Center, Beijing, China
Category: WTA 1000
Surface: Hard
Prize money: $8,127,389
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | Canada - TSN | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Jessica Pegula vs Anna Blinkova preview
Fourth seed Jessica Pegula will take on Anna Blinkova in the second round of the China Open.
The American received a bye to the second round of the WTA 1000 event thanks to run in the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Seeded second in the tournament, Pegula thrashed Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-2 and Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 to set up a semifinal clash against Maria Sakkari.
She produced a dominant display against the Greek and beat her 6-2, 6-3 to book her place in the final where her opponent will be Veronika Kudermetova.
Anna Blinkova entered the China Open after being eliminated in the second round of the Ningbo Open. The Russian was drawn against Donna Vekic in the first round and was the underdog entering the match given the Croatian's performances this season.
Blinkova had a strong start to the match and won the first set 6-3 to take the lead in the match. Vekic showed some resistance in the second set but the Russian took it 7-5 to book her place in the second round in Beijing.
Jessica Pegula vs Anna Blinkova head-to-head
Pegula leads 1-0 in the head-to-head between the two, having previously thrashed Blinkova 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the Charleston Open this season.
Jessica Pegula vs Anna Blinkova odds
All odds are sourced from BETMGM.
Jessica Pegula vs Anna Blinkova prediction
Pegula will enter the match as the heavy favorite to win given her current run of form and it will take something really special from Blinkova to beat her.
The American hits her shots with a lot of power and loves to attack from the baseline. However, she has admirable defensive skills and her doubles experience has helped her net game as well. Pegula, however, will have to be careful not to hit too many unforced errors.
Blinkova served nine aces in her previous match and will aim to get a lot more of those against the American. The Russian will have to dominate her service games and while she will have to attack well, she also needs to defend well to counter Pegula's intensity and force her into making mistakes.
The American looks in really good touch at the moment and should hardly face any trouble beating Blinkova to book her place in the third round of the China Open.
Pick: Pegula to win in straight sets.
