Berlin 2024: Jessica Pegula vs Katerina Siniakova preview, head-to-head, prediction, and pick | ecotrans Ladies Open
Fixture: Jessica Pegula vs Donna Vekic
Date: Friday, June 21
Tournament: ecotrans Ladies Open
Round: Quarterfinal
Venue: Berlin
Category: WTA 500
Surface: Grass
Prize Money: €823,000
Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN+
Jessica Pegula vs Katerina Siniakova preview
Jessica Pegula of the United States will take on Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinal of the ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin on Friday, June 21.
Pegula beat Donna Vekic in the second round 6-4 7-5 to book her place in the last eight. She is making a comeback from a long injury lay-off that forced her to miss all the big clay-court tournaments this season.
Siniaklova, the 28-year-old Czech, came through qualifiers in the tournament and beat USA's Emma Navarro 6-4 6-3 in the first round. She then beat Qinwen Zhang of China 6-4 6-4 in the second round to qualify for the quarterfinal.
Navarro has had a pretty ordinary clay-court season this year, failing to go deep into any of the three big tournaments (Madrid Open, Italian Open, and French Open). However, the Czech has looked in good touch in Berlin so far and will be no pushover in the quarterfinal.
Jessica Pegula vs Katerina Siniakova head-to-head
Pegula leads their head-to-head 2-1. However, Siniakova won their only previous meeting on grass.
Jessica Pegula vs Katerina Siniakova odds
(Odds to be updated when available)
Jessica Pegula vs Katerina Siniakova prediction
Pegula is the higher-ranked player of the two and also has considerably more pedigree. She handled a big server like Vekic, who fired eight aces and won 80 percent of the points of her first serve in the match, really well. She punished Vekic's second serve in the match, forcing the Croat to win only 35 percent of the points on her second serve in the match.
Siniakova has also returned pretty well in the tournament so far, breaking Navarro and Zheng four times each in her two matches so far. Thus, one may expect to see a lot of breaks of serve in Friday's quarterfinal. Siniakova will be less rusty than Pegula, but the latter might still have too much quality to falter in the last eight.
Pegula should be able to sneak out a victory in the end, but it should be a pretty close match.
Pick: Pegula to win in three sets.