Heather Watson vs Karolina Pliskova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Nottingham Open

Prediction published on 11/06/2024, 01:09  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 11/06/2024 at 01:15 in Tennis Predictions

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova will play wildcard Heather Watson in the second round of the 2024 Nottingham Open. This will be the second meeting between the two this year and the winner will play Linda Fruhvirtova, Ons Jabeur or Camila Osorio next. Watson produced her best result in this year last year by qualifying for the semi-finals. She is seeking, at the very least, a repeat of this. The Briton began her eighth appearance in Nottingham with a three-set victory over the unseeded Kayla Day. She mounted a comeback after losing the first set, showing character after the match had also been disrupted by rain. The win halted a run of four successive losses. Watson is having a difficult campaign and has so far lost 11 of 20 matches. But as she is a strong grass court player, she will be confident of better fortunes as the season switches to grass. Watson, who defeated Pliskova in their only other encounter 10 years ago in Prague, has dropped to 194th in the live ranking.

Karolina Pliskova had a more assured first-round performance than Watson and won her tie in straight sets. This was against Alycia Parks whom she defeated by the loss of eight games. Her 14th win of the season snapped a three-match losing run and also marked a winning return to Nottingham after seven years. Pliskova last played here in 2016 which was a memorable debut campaign as she won the title. She will be hoping the stars align for her as they did then this time around. The 32-year-old former world number one has had two contrasting halves so far this year. She began the season in exceptional form, winning 12 of her first 15 fixtures. This resulted in a title in Cluj and a semi-final run in Doha. But since a third-round exit in Dubai, Pliskova has managed just two wins in her last eight fixtures. The Czech player has moved two places in the live ranking after winning her first-round tie and is now placed 48th.