Jelena Ostapenko vs Karolina Pliskova Prediction & Betting Tips - Cincinnati, USA

Prediction published on 14/08/2023, 23:38  by Nella Wagah | Modified on 15/08/2023 at 03:00 in Tennis Predictions

Unseeded players Jelena Ostapenko and Karolina Pliskova will meet on Tuesday in the first round at the 2023 Cincinnati Open. Ostapenko won the last time these two players met. That was still in the first round in Adelaide at the start of the year. It was her fourth win in nine encounters with Pliskova and the second on hard court. She will hope to come out on top here on her seventh appearance in this WTA 1000 tournament. Ostapenko is having a strong season which has seen her end a more than a year wait for a tour title. The Latvian battled to win the Birmingham Classic in June at the start of the grass-court swing. On hard court however, is where she has won the majority, 12, of her 27 matches. Ostapenko arrives in Ohio after playing at the Canadian Open where she was eliminated in the first round. The former world number five is currently ranked 20th in the live ranking.

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova is currently ranked five places below Ostapenko in the live ranking. The Czech has struggled all through the season and arrives here having lost four times in her last five matches. But as she is a former champion here, the 31-year-old will be confident of a sustained run. Pliskova has compiled a 20-15 record in 2023. Her form on hard court has kept her season going as she has won 17 times on the surface. The 16-time tour champion has the head-to-head advantage against Ostapenko and has also won twice on hard court in this fixture. However, Pliskova is in woeful form at the moment and arrives for this match off the back of a loss. In her last outing, she was eliminated from the Canadian Open in the first round. This will be the 10th meeting between the two players. Advancing from it will set up a second-round showdown against fourth seed Elena Rybakina