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Match Details
Fixture: (1) Jessica Pegula vs Daria Saville.
Date: August 3, 2022.
Tournament: Citi Open 2022.
Round: Second round (Round of 16).
Venue: Washington, D.C., United States.
Category: WTA 250.
Surface: Hard.
Prize money: $239,477.
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | Canada - TSN | Australia - beIN Sports.
Jessica Pegula vs Daria Saville preview
Top seed Jessica Pegula and World No. 88 Daria Saville will lock horns in the Round of 16 of the Citi Open in Washington DC on Wednesday.
This will be Pegula's first match since bowing out in the third round at Wimbledon. It was the only Slam this year in which the American exited before the quarterfinals, having made the last eight at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
The 28-year-old also finished as the runner-up in Madrid on clay, besides reaching the semifinals in Miami on hardcourt, showing her versatility.
Pegula will now be keen to get back to her early-season form, with an eye on doing well at her home Slam.
She began her Citi Open campaign on Monday with the same intentions, thrashing wildcard Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 6-2. Having won the title in 2019, the World No. 7 will definitely be eager to lay her hands on the Citi Open trophy once again.
After an injury-riddled couple of years, former junior US Open champion Daria Saville is on the comeback trail this season. Before her struggles with achilles tendon injury and plantar fasciitis, the Australian reached a career-high No. 20 in the world rankings with a WTA title to boot.
The injury layoff pushed her ranking down to 400 from where the 28-year-old has been steadily building her way up to the top echelons of the sport.
This season has been promising for the Aussie, who made the quarterfinals in Guadalajara before surging into the Round of 16 at Indian Wells as a qualifier. Her highest point of the season came in Miami, where the-then World No. 249 became the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist in the history of the tournament.
Now ranked inside the top 100, Saville will be eager to recapture that form, with the tour having returned to North America again.
On Monday, she had to dig deep and summon all her courage to see off Mirjam Bjorkland 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in three hours and nine minutes. The resilient performance would have boosted Saville's confidence ahead of her meeting with the top seed.
Jessica Pegula vs Daria Saville head-to-head
Pegula and Saville haven't crossed paths so far on the tour, so their head-to-head remains at a 0-0 deadlock for now.
Jessica Pegula vs Daria Saville prediction
Pegula comes into this contest as the overwhelming favorite, having previously lifted the Washington trophy and entered this year's tournament as the top seed.
Although she had a breezy outing in the first round, the home hope needs to tighten her serve. She was able to land only 48% of her first serves, which isn't an encouraging stat by any means if she is to win the title again.
That said, she did make up for it with excellent first-strike play, winning 77% of her first-serve points. Pegula needs to maintain her aggression right from the start, keeping her error count to a minimum.
Her opponent, Daria Saville, isn't one of the best servers around and committed a humongous 12 double faults in the first round. However, she is gritty, boasts a solid return game and will fight until the end. Saville can also throw in the occasional slice and dropshot to break her opponent's rhythm, an aspect that Pegula needs to be wary of.
Saville will be keen to keep up the pressure on the World No. 7, but if her serving woes reappear, things could get difficult for the Aussie. She was also involved in a marathon first-round match, the effects of which might take a toll on her should this duel get extended.
By dint of her higher ranking and her experience of playing consistently at the highest level of the sport, Pegula should be able to pick up a victory in this clash.
Pick: Jessica Pegula to win in straight sets.
