Victoria Azarenka vs Barbora Krejcikova Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Cincinnati Open

Prediction published on 12/08/2023, 14:15  by Devesh Jaganath in Tennis Predictions

World number 11 Barbora Krejcikova will take on 18th-ranked Victoria Azarenka in the first round of the WTA Cincinnati Masters on Sunday. The winner of this match will go on to face either Jennifer Brady or Donna Vekic in the next round. These two have met twice in the past and have won one match each. Azarenka comes into this tournament following a second-round exit in Montreal last week, where she handed a walkover to Sloane Stephens. After reaching the semi-final at the Australian Open at the start of the year, the Belarusian has been unable to find her best form, only managing her next run of any significance at Wimbledon, where she reached the last 16. Between those Grand Slam events, Azarenka has not gotten past the third round of any WTA event. Her record now stands at 18-14 for the year and 12-8 on the hard court, which is by far her favourite surface. Despite her underwhelming lead-up to the tournament, she is the current bookmakers favourite. 

Meanwhile, this will be the first match for Krejcikova since bowing out to qualifier Mirra Andreeva in the second round of Wimbledon, where she suffered an injury in the second set. Before that, though, the former world number two got to the final in Birmingham, where she came up just short against Jelena Ostapenko. Krejcikova has secured her first piece of silverware this season, which came back in February when she overcame world number one Iga Swiatek in Dubai. After that win, she had seen her world ranking improve from 30th to 16th over the following month, and it received another boost to 11th after her runners-up medal in Birmingham. Like her opponent, she is a fan of the hard court, and her record for the year stands at 25-13 and 15-6 on this surface. While Krejcikova is the 2/1 outsider, it would come as no surprise if she defied the bookmaker odds in this one.