Wimbledon 2022, 3rd Round, Saturday, 02/07/2022
In the women’s singles, the last players want to reach the last 16 of Wimbledon. Apart from the German starters, I pay special attention to those who already know how to triumph here in London.
One former winner wants to show her young opponent on Saturday how important experience is.
Thoroughly, in my eyes a bet on the Czech makes perfect sense!
32 years old now, Petra Kvitova has experienced just about everything in her long career. In 2011, she was the best tennis player in the world, and she can call two Grand Slam titles her own. Both of these were won at Wimbledon.
So the conditions are good, and it was here in London that she celebrated her greatest successes. It has been a long time since she marched into the final here, in 2011 and 2014 she stood at the top. The Czech has not been able to build on these glorious times for a long time.
Her second-round exit at the French Open, followed by a defeat against Beatriz Haddad Maria in Birmingham, gave the impression that she was travelling to Wimbledon in a rather dejected mood.
But then there was the big, somewhat surprising Eastbourne success. Although she struggled for most of the tournament, she ended up beating the higher rated Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2.
With this victory Kvitova showed impressively: I can still do it! So you should never write off the 32-year-old. Not even at Wimbledon, where she has had her fair share of problems. She started the tournament with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to Jasmine Paolini.
Against Ana Bogdan in the second round, she won the first set 6-1, but did not have the consistency to keep up her game. A close win in a tiebreak nevertheless saw her through to the next round.
It is now almost two and a half years since the first and so far only direct encounter with Paula Badosa at the Australian Open. Kvitova won 7-5, 7-5 in the 2nd round, but had to stretch quite a bit.
In the meantime, Badosa has climbed a lot in the world rankings, occupying a great fourth place. Nevertheless, she has to put up with being listed behind Kvitova at German bookmakers, with an average of 2.20 to 1.70.
In contrast to the Czech, Badosa has had no trouble at all in London. She started her tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Louisa Chirico, a not really demanding opponent.
After that, the Spaniard also got a lot of balls on the other side when she defeated Irina Bada 6-3, 6-2. Strong results, even though they were not achieved against absolute top players.
Badosa did not do much preparation on grass, only in Eastbourne where she was top seed. She lost 4-6, 3-6 to Jodie Burrage, so this dress rehearsal was by no means a success.
The native New Yorker made it to the last 16 at Wimbledon last year, but this is only her third appearance. That alone shows how much experience Kvitova has ahead of her.
My Badosa Kvitova Tip
Will coolness win out or will nonchalance? It’s a very interesting duel between Paula Badosa and Petra Kvitova on Saturday
In my analysis I could also see that she has clearly lost substance. Paula Badosa has not yet faced a strong opponent at Wimbledon. In my eyes, the tendency here goes to Kvitova, who for me personally simply sets the decisive pinpricks.
My tip: Kvitova beats Badosa!
