On December 21, the Falcons and Eagles will meet at the Dubai World Tennis League. Paula Badosa will play her first match at the tournament, while Caroline Garcia will look to even up her win-loss statistics, here in Dubai, after a loss. The encounter will start on December 21 at 15:30 UK time.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #1 – Garcia to win – 1.40.
Badosa was weak at the end of the season. She had an injury. It is far from certain that in the exhibition tournament Paula will please with a great game. Garcia is on a decent emotional rise and has had time to get playing a practice on the local court. On top of that, the Frenchwoman won their only head-to-head match.
The tournament is an exhibition tournament and the organisers and fans want spectacle first. We think that Badosa and Garcia will please the audience with a long duel. All the more so, in their head-to-head encounter, the rivals exchanged winning sets.
Badosa finishes the year in 13th place in the WTA rankings. On the one hand, not bad, but not so long ago, she was the second-ranked player in the world.
Paula performed poorly at the US Open, losing already in the second round to Petra Martic (7-6, 1-6, 2-6) and failing in the fall tournaments.
In Tokyo, Ostrava and Guadalajara, the Spanish tennis player did not pass a single round. In San Diego, she lost in the second round to Danielle Collins (6-7, 4-6).
The upcoming match will be Badosa’s first after the break.
Paula is not afraid to take the initiative in the rallies, but she has started to make a lot of unnecessary mistakes. Paula plays powerfully and aggressively and if she manages to find a comfortable rhythm of play, it is very difficult to stop her.
Garcia, meanwhile, has already managed one match this week.
On Monday, she lost to Iga Swiatek (3-6, 4-6). Caroline fought well, but her opponent was still better by all accounts.
Garcia made her biggest jump in the rankings at the end of the season. She started the year 74th and finished fourth.
At the beginning of November, Caroline won the WTA Finals. In the final, she defeated Aryna Sabalenka (7-6, 6-4).
Garcia is not afraid to take the lead. It is a pleasure to watch her actions of late, but there is still an element of instability in her actions.
Falcons: Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa.
Eagles: Nick Kyrgios, Rohan Bopanna, Andreas Seppi, Bianca Andreescu, Caroline Garcia.
Type of Court – Indoor Hard
Speed of Court – 8/10
Paula Badosa’s Rating – 13
Paula Badosa Wins/Losses in 2022 – 32/22
Caroline Garcia’s Rating – 4
Caroline Garcia Wins/Losses in 2022 – 45/20
Garcia leads with a score of 1-0 in the head-to-head encounters. The only time they met was at the Mallorca Open in 2019. In that match, Garcia defeated Badosa (6-2, 6-7, 6-3) in three sets.
The match will be played in Center Court, Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
We recommend checking out the odds for the World Tennis League 2022: Paula Badosa vs Caroline Garcia at 1xBet.