2024 WTA Tour – WTA 500
Ecotrans Ladies Open
Am Rothenbaum Rot-Weiss Tennis Club
Selected Round of 16 matches – 20 June
Jessica Pegula 61/100 | Donna Vekic 5/4
This has the potential to be a cracking round of 16 tie. fourth seed Jessica Pegula has been one of the tour’s most consistent players over the last few seasons (Grand Slams aside).
The hard-working American has become a fixture in the latter stages of WTA events but she hasn’t really been able to translate that into meaningful grass-court success.
Sure, she reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last season. But she is yet to reach a tour-level grass-court final in her career. It will also be interesting to see how Pegula’s body copes with this test.
The American has suffered a succession of injures that have prevented her from reaching her optimal level this season. This led her to withdraw from the bulk of this year’s clay-court campaign.
She returned to action in last week’s Libema Open, going down to an inspired Krunic in three sets. The combination of a relatively poor grass-court record and recent injury issues makes her prime upset fodder.
The 27-year-old Donna Vekic is a really dangerous dark horse pick this week. She hasn’t been in the greatest form of late, only qualifying for this event via a wildcard.
She had a few decent showings towards the beginning of the season, reaching the semis in Linz and the quarter-finals in San Diego. But her form flatlined, only to be resurrected by a surprise third-round run at the French Open.
She beat Marta Kostyuk in straight sets in Paris and that performance bodes well going forward. Sure, she was upset by Greet Minnen in last week’s Rosmalen event.
But she is a past grass-court specialist who has what it takes to compete with anyone on these surfaces. She has reached four grass-court finals in her career, finishing runner-up to two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova in last year’s final.
Vekic is almost ideally suited to grass. She has an excellent serve that can generate plenty of cheap points and she likes to play incisive, first-strike tennis. I just wish she would come to the net a little more often. Still, she will always stand a fighting chance on these slick surfaces.
The Verdict: Vekic to win in three 44/10
Pegula won their only previous meeting, taking down Vekic in straight sets at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. But Pegula is slightly wounded at present and she has never really moved that comfortably on grass.
Vekic is a seasoned grass-court operator who knows how to negotiate these Wimbledon lead-in events. I think she could take down an undercooked Pegula in three.