Pliskova vs Garcia US Open tennis live streaming, preview and predictions

Top seed Karolina Pliskova faces Caroline Garcia, who has won half of their previous matches, for a place in the third round of the US Open.

Pliskova vs Garcia is live from New York on Wednesday 2 September, time TBC

Karolina Pliskova’s first-round win over Anhelina Kalinina was her first victory since February, having lost her only warm-up match to Veronika Kudermetova, but after some early exchanges of breaks the 2016 US Open finalist was able to assert her authority.

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It will be a much tougher challenge as the top seed faces Caroline Garcia, a former top-10 player who has won three of the six matches they have played against each other, on Wednesday.

Read on for our preview, predictions and live streaming information.

How to watch Pliskova vs Garcia live

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Pliskova vs Garcia: Head-to-head

Pliskova and Garcia have played six times, with the head-to-head standing at an even 3-3. It’s also an even 2-2 on hard courts.
Garcia won their last encounter, in the Tianjin Open final in 2018, 7-6(7), 6-3. But the Frenchwoman was ranked inside the top 20 at the time – she is currently world no. 50.

Pliskova vs Garcia: Preview

Bumped up to top seed at the US Open by the withdrawals of Ashleigh Barty and Simona Halep, who along with four other top-10 WTA players declined to travel to the USA for health reasons, Pliskova opened play on the fan-free Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday – a tough ask, especially given that she had lost her only pre-US Open match to Veronika Kudermetova at the Western & Southern Open.

The big-serving Czech trailed Anhelina Kalinina by an early break, then was pegged back from 4-1 to 4-4 as she got used to the conditions. But Pliskova took charge of the match after those early travails, winning the last eight games of the match to record a 6-4, 6-0 victory in 64 minutes, serving seven aces and dropping only five points behind her first serve. In the second set, she didn’t lose a single point behind her first serve and only missed her first delivery four times, remaining on course for a third-round clash with the in-form Lexington champion Jennifer Brady.

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Ukraine’s Kalinina is a talented player but found herself outgunned against Pliskova, and certainly had a significant disadvantage in experience. That won’t be the case against Garcia, who should represent an early test of the Czech’s mettle and potential champion credentials.

Caroline Garcia has a 3-3 record vs Karolina Pliskova (PA Images)

Garcia is currently ranked world no. 50, but was a top-10 player and even a top-5 player in 2018 after the talented Frenchwoman recorded a sensational 48-22 season in 2017, making the third round or better at each major and winning the Wuhan and Beijing titles back-to-back, something Garcia is still the only player to achieve.

Long considered a potential top player, Garcia recorded eight of the 16 wins she’s got against top-10 players in 2017-18, the last of them against Pliskova in the Tianjin Open final at the end of 2018. Since then, she’s lost every match she’s played against a top-10 player and has generally reverted to her pre-2017 form, going 27-27 in 2019 with her best result an International title on grass in Nottingham.

Garcia was 4-6 in the early part of 2020 before the shutdown, and got a good win over Sloane Stephens in ‘Cincinnati’ last week before losing to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka; she beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 to open her US Open campaign.

Garcia made the third round of the US Open three straight years from 2016-2018, but her record is obviously not as good as that of Pliskova, who has not lost before the fourth round since 2015.

Matches between these two have generally been serving duels, with three of the past six sets they have played going past 5-5. Garcia has lost the effectiveness on her serve that she had in 2017-18, but this match still requires a focused, disciplined and aggressive performance from Pliskova. After such a long lay-off, I would expect a few lapses from Pliskova on her way to the win.

Pliskova vs Garcia: Prediction