Two of the leading contenders heading to Wimbledon next week will be having a showdown in the final of Eastbourne on Saturday. This has been important grass court form from both the reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber, and key 2019 contender Pliskova. This could be a big match to win to head to SW19 with some major confidence behind them.
Angelique Kerber v Karolina Pliskova Odds*
Karolina Pliskova 4/6
Angelique Kerber 6/5
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on June 28th, 2019 at 9:35 pm)
Pliskova untroubled at Eastbourne
It has been some display from Pliskova at Eastbourne. She has produced some immensely powerful stuff and has raced through her matches. In her opening match (in the second round) she took a 6-3 6-3 win over Margarita Gasparyan. In the following three rounds of action, Pliskova has not dropped more than three games in a match.
It’s has not been against particularly weak opposition either. She took out Elise Mertens in the third round and in the semi-finals took down Kiki Bertenbs, who is the third seed. This is just the result that Pliskova needed ahead of Wimbledon where she will be one of the front runners. She had lost in the second round of Queen’s in her first outing on grass this season. Can she land the title and continue some remarkably powerful form in this event?
Head To Head
The head to head is in favour of Kerber 7-4 over Pliskova. This will be the first meeting between the two since a Fed Cup clash on clay last year, won by Pliskova. Kerber was a three-match winning streak over her prior to that. In the one previous meeting that they had on grass, Kerber came out on top. That was a 2015 clash at Birmingham, but it was a super tight three-set battle.
Kerber coming good for Wimbledon title defence?
Kerber will head back to SW19 to try and defend her title. So there will be a little bit of pressure on her. She got a walkover in her semi-final fixture so has had a bit of an extra rest. Prior to that though, she had a massive showdown against Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. Kerber looked right on top of her game in that fixture, taking a straight sets win.
It hasn’t been a tremendous season from the German really and hasn’t been in competition for a title since the BNP Paribas Open in March. She lost that final incidentally against Bianca Andreescu. But Kerber is a fine grass court player though and will have been aiming to peak right now. She had made the semi-finals of the Mallorca Open on grass prior to this run at Eastbourne. The German will not go down quietly.
Predictions
Pliskova has looked right on point in this tournament and has been blowing away the competition. She should rightly get a much stiffer test in this contest because Kerber is in great shape on grass. The German rarely disappoints on the surface. Still, she is taking on a player who looks supreme at the moment. Pliskova 2-1 Set Betting at 3/1 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on June 28th, 2019 at 9:35 pm)
