H2H: Ashleigh Barty vs. Kristina Mladenovic - Prediction (WTA Fed Cup

Preview and players comparison.

The pair have split their previous two meetings, dropping precisely five games in each encounter to collect their respective victory. Barty prevailed at 2018 Eastbourne, while Mladenovic won the 2019 Rome third-round. The Aussie recovered from the Italian defeat to win her maiden clay-court title at Roland Garros.

World no. 1 Ashleigh Barty leveled the tie against France after dealing a severe blow to former world no. 4 Caroline Garcia and delivering a flawless 6-0, 6-0 scoreline in 56 minutes — first such scoreline in a Fed Cup Finale. She tallied fifteen winners to nine unforced errors to her opponent’s three and sixteen. Barty is coming off a triumphant stay at Shenzhen, where she became the second Australian to win the WTA Finals after Goolagong Cawley in the 1970s. It was the fourth trophy of her season, having also won Roland Garros, a maiden Premier Mandatory in Miami, and a Premier grass-court title in Birmingham. Barty, who is now on a 15-rubber winning streak in Fed Cup, has played at RAC Arena, the venue of the final, numerous times in the past for the now-extinct Hopman Cup. Given that all members of the French team are outside the top 30, the 23-year-old also boasts a 31-3 record against such players this year.

Not to be outdone by Barty, Mladenovic also lifted a trophy in Shenzhen a few days ago, defending the doubles title with Timea Babos. “I’ve been playing well for quite some time now,” said the world’s second-best doubles player, who outranked Garcia in singles with Premier semifinals at Zhengzhou and Moscow.

Kristina Mladenovic started the day of quick matches on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-1 win over world no. 51 Ajla Tomljanovic, who was representing Australia in Fed Cup for the first time in her career. Closing the rubber in the 72nd minute, the former world no. 10 dispatched 16 winners to the home favorite’s paltry two. Mladenovic has defeated a reigning world no. 1 in one out of her previous four tries. She upset a newly-crowned Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka in Dubai in February before falling to the Japanese player at Indian Wells. Overall, the 26-year-old has accumulated a decent four top 10 wins this year (4-6).