In a Wimbledon quarter-final match at the All England Club, Jelena Ostapenko will take on Barbora Krejcikova in an interesting clash of styles. Ostapenko very much employs a “see ball, hit ball” strategy, looking to clobber every ball that comes her way. Meanwhile, Krejcikova has a ton of variety and likes to switch up the pace and keep her opponents on their heels. The power game is usually the one that wins out on a grass-court surface. But my favorite play here is a bet on Krejcikova to win a set.
Ostapenko is actually 4-2 in six career meetings with Krejcikova, and the Latvian has won the last three meetings between these two. However, it’s really hard to weigh the head-to-head series heavily. Krejcikova’s game has been in a bad place over the last few years, but she has finally started to turn a corner and start playing to her potential. I know her record suggests she played well in 2022 and 2023, but her game was definitely not where she wanted it to be. It’s getting closer in London. And that has to be somewhat scary for Ostapenko, as she was barely able to beat an out-of-form Krejcikova in a grass-court match in 2023. That ended up being a 7-6 (8), 6-4 win for the Latvian, but it easily could have gone the other way.
