H2H: Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Caroline Garcia - Prediction (WTA Fed Cup

Preview and players comparison.

The stakes are high for both players as they meet for the first time across any level. One of them will have the chance to seal a historic Fed Cup triumph in this rubber, as France are chasing their third, after 1997 and 2003, and the Australians are looking for an eighth but first since the golden decade of the 1970s.

Caroline Garcia had to endure a mortifying 6-0, 6-0 defeat at the hands of world no. 1 Ashleigh Barty, lasting just 56 minutes on the court and failing to consolidate her team’s early lead over the host nation. It is the first time in her professional career that the 26-year-old has lost a match with that scoreline. This emphatic trashing would not come as a complete surprise. Garcia, who was inside the top 10 little more than a year ago, has slid down to the 45th spot with a 24-24 win-loss in tournaments this year. Her recent form is in a particularly dire state, having won just five matches in the last eleven tournaments. Garcia returned to the Fed Cup team after a sabbatical of two years, collecting two singles wins against Belgium (Mertens, Van Uytvanck) and one against Romania (Buzarnescu). Though she holds a positive 17-12 season win-loss against outside top 50 players, a majority of the wins required a deciding set.

Ajla Tomljanovic, who is making her maiden appearance in the Australian Fed Cup team, also received a battering on Saturday and submitted to Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1, 6-1 in 72 minutes in front of the 13,000-strong home crowd. She managed to strike just two winners in the entire match to 18 unforced errors. Given she previously played for birth country Croatia, Tomljanovic was barred from representing Australia until a clearance a few weeks ago. However, this weekend has come around at an inopportune time for the 26-year-old, who entered winning just one completed match in her last five tournaments. Tomljanovic has never flourished in Australia. In fact, until Brisbane International in January, she had not entered a WTA quarterfinal in her adopted country. That result — her best Premier showing until Zhengzhou in September — was followed up with a couple of first-round exits at Sydney and Melbourne.