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Match Details
Fixture: (8) Jessica Pegula vs Petra Martic.
Date: July 2, 2022.
Tournament: Wimbledon 2022.
Round: Third round (Round of 32).
Venue: London, United Kingdom.
Category: Grand Slam.
Surface: Grass.
Prize money: £40,350,000.
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel & ESPN | Canada - TSN | UK - BBC & Eurosport | India - Star Sports & Disney+ Hotstar app.
Jessica Pegula vs Petra Martic preview
World No. 9 Jessica Pegula will square off against Croatia's Petra Martic in the third round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships on Saturday.
Pegula commenced her campaign with a straight-sets victory over Donna Vekic in the first round. She was up against home favorite Harriet Dart in the second round.
Dart was the only one who managed to hold serve at the beginning of the opening set, as the pair exchanged five breaks between them. The Brit eventually got the upper hand, which helped her nab the first set. Pegula started the second set by winning three games in a row. The buffer was enough for her to take the second set and force a decider.
Pegula started the third set in a similar manner, by winning three consecutive games. Dart put up a little resistance by retrieving one of the breaks, but the American claimed the next three games to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. She has now reached the third round at Wimbledon for the first time.
Petra Martic took out the ever-dangerous Shelby Rogers in the first round to set up a second-round date with Kristina Kucova. The opening set was closely contested, with the duo trading breaks at the start of the set. Both players then held serve to force a tie-break.
Martic got the upper hand in the tie-break to take the opener. Kucova started the second set by breaking her opponent's serve to lead 2-0. However, the Croat reeled off the next four games to go 4-2 up.
After another couple of games, Martic broke Kucova's serve for the final time to win 7-6(3), 6-3.
Jessica Pegula vs Petra Martic head-to-head
The duo have played four main draw matches against each other prior to this, with Martic leading 3-1 in the head-to-head. She won their previous encounter at the 2021 Italian Open in straight sets.
Jessica Pegula vs Petra Martic odds
(All odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Jessica Pegula vs Petra Martic prediction
Considering their head-to-head record, Martic will be considered the favorite. However, Pegula has transformed into a different player over the last year and has been one of the most consistent performers this season.
Martic lost in the first round of the Australian Open and the French Open, while Pegula was a quarterfinalist in both. The American was off to a slow start against Dart in the second round. A repeat of that against her next opponent could be difficult to recover from.
Martic had a pretty good serving day against Kucova, hitting 10 aces and winning a high number of first-serve points. Pegula's serving stats weren't as impressive, but she did a touch better than the Croat with respect to the receiving points won, claiming 51% of them. Against a server like Martic, the American will need to put her best foot forward on return.
Martic has a well-rounded game and gives the top players a good fight, but often comes up just short. Her record against top-10 players is rather dismal, going 5-30 against them. For her to improve on this stat, she'll need to maintain her focus throughout the match against Pegula.
While Martic is quite familiar with Pegula's game, the American's consistency is likely to hand her the win this time around.
Pick: Jessica Pegula to win in three sets.
