Tennis Picks

Garbine Muguruza vs Barbora Strycova Tennis Prediction

Reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza dropped just three games against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to begin her grass season at Birmingham (6-1 6-2). The Spaniard committed just five unforced errors to the Russian’s fifteen as she concluded the match in 59 minutes.
Muguruza, coming off a semifinal run at the French Open, has now won 25 matches on the grass on tour. She has also improved her record against top 30 players in 2018 to 4-7. Last year, the former #1 posted a 10-2 season on this surface, which included a semifinal at Birmingham (l. eventual runner-up Barty).
Barbora Strycova had to come back from a set down to prevail over American qualifier Jennifer Brady in two hours and ten minutes (3-6 7-5 6-3). The Czech is a two-time runner-up of Birmingham, losing those championship matches to Ana Ivanovic (2014) and Madison Keys (2016).
Strycova was on an eight-match losing streak until last month, which was broken at the French Open, as she went on to post her second consecutive slam fourth round run (l. Putintseva). The 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist posted a 5-3 grass season last year, which included an Eastbourne semifinal.
The pair split the head-to-head record at three wins each. In 2017, Strycova led the Spaniard 2-1, including winning on the grass courts of Eastbourne (6-1 6-0, only grass meeting). This week, the two met in the first round of the doubles draw, with Muguruza (w/ Kasatkina) defeating Strycova (w/ Hlavackova).

Tennis Prediction: Muguruza
Odds: 1.33