Having just won at Eastbourne this past weekend, Karolina Pliskova proved again why she’s indeed one name to be feared at Wimbledon.
With that win, the third-best female tennis player in the world improved her record on grass over the last three seasons to an impressive 20-6 mark, which also explains why she’s the +450 leading favorite to win it all at the All England Club this month. That, by the way, was just one of three victories that Pliskova has coralled this season.
Not only has the Czech standout impressed on grass thus far, she’s been a really tough out in virtually all WTA Tour events this year, with a total of six semifinal and nine quarterfinal appearances across 13 tournaments in 2017.
Pliskova shouldn’t be fazed much by her first-round opponent this Monday in Evgeniya Rodina, as she had recently taken their last head-to-head encounter in straight sets back in 2015 during the first round of another Grand Slam, the Australian Open.
Betting on Evgeniya Rodina
Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina could not have asked for a more daunting opening-round opponent at Wimbledon. The 28-year-old has yet to win a WTA Tour title since turning pro in 2004, and her shortcomings further illustrate what sort of uphill battle we’ll expect from her against Pliskova at the All England Club.
As a silver lining, though, Rodina did secure a win over Pliskova before. However, that victory was from way back in 2009 at a qualyfying event in Athens during a time when Pliskova had yet to make a real name for herself.
In general, there’s not a whole lot of positive takeaways from Rodina’s camp. The Moscow native doesn’t even have any experience going up against the WTA Tour’s heavywieghts this entire year mainly because she’s been partaking in Challenger events most of the time, and with lackluster results even from those lower-tier tournaments to boot.
Writer’s Prediction
Pliskova cruises to the second round of Wimbledown with ease in straight sets.
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