Jessica Pegula vs Maria Sakkari Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Washington Citi Open

Prediction published on 05/08/2023, 02:03  by Nella Wagah in Tennis Predictions

Top seed Jessica Pegula and fourth seed Maria Sakkari will on Saturday battle in the Washington Open semifinals. The winner here will advance to the final for a showdown with either third-seed Cori Gauff or eighth-seed Liudmila Samsonova. Jessica Pegula is now only two wins away from another Citi Open title. The American triumphed in this tournament back in 2019. She will be hopeful of doing it again especially as this is the first time she has gotten this far since winning. Pegula defeated the wildcard Elina Svitolina in three sets in the last round to register her 35th win of the season. She was forced to come back from a set down against the Ukrainian with the match lasting for slightly over two hours. The win, her 21st in 27 matches on hard court, moved her up to third in the live ranking. Pegula is having a strong season despite not having won a title yet. She made it to the final in Qatar in February and defeated Sakkari in this very same round. It was her third win against the Greek, all on hard court, in seven encounters.

Maria Sakkari has defeated Pegula four times, three of those victories have come on hard court. This should have her confident of advancing to her first final of the year. The Greek number one played two matches on Friday with both lasting for well over an hour. She began the day with a 2-0 success over Leylah Fernandez with the match lasting for one hour and 36 minutes. In her second match, Sakkari outdueled Madison Keys also in two sets with this match lasting 22 minutes less than the opener. She will hope to not be fatigued for this showdown with Pegula. Sakkari has been in terrific shape this season, especially on hard court where 14 of her 26 wins have come. She is yet to advance to a final though but will hope her seventh appearance in Washington sees her to do so. Sakkari has also moved up the live ranking and is now placed at number eight.