Karolina Pliskova vs. Elina Svitolina – Prediction (WTA – 28.10.2019)

Preview and players comparison.

Pliskova won the pair’s first five meetings, starting from a home ITF event in 2011 to Brisbane in 2017. On the other hand, Svitolina has not only claimed their last three encounters but also went on to win the tournament in each instance, at 2017 Rome (QF), and Brisbane (SF) and WTA Finals (RR) in 2018.

Elina Svitolina has qualified for her title defense campaign at the year-end championships. She has neither reached a final nor defeated a top 5 player since the triumph in Singapore. Her streak of winning a WTA title every year since 2013 is at the risk of being broken, this week being her last opportunity to save it. It is Svitolina’s third consecutive appearance in the WTA Finals. She is the only Ukrainian to ever participate in this prestigious tournament. Last year, the 25-year-old swept all five matches to lift her biggest career trophy, winning four of those encounters in three-setters and beating Sloane Stephens in the finals.

Karolina Pliskova qualifies for the WTA Finals for the fourth year running. The former world no. 1, and the second seed this week, has suffered at least one round-robin loss in each of her previous appearances. However, she went on to finish in the semifinals of the 2017 (l. Wozniacki) and 2018 (l. Stephens) editions. This year, Pliskova has won more titles than anyone else on tour (4) — Brisbane, Rome, Eastbourne, and Zhengzhou. The latter was her maiden career title in China. The season ace leader, however, is coming off early-round exits in Wuhan and Beijing at the hands of Yastremska and Ostapenko, respectively.

Svitolina has won the lowest number of matches this year across all eight qualifiers (35). However, it is also the year when she has posted her maiden Grand Slam semifinals, at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows. Pliskova heads into this match with 50 wins in the season, two-thirds of it coming on hard-courts.

Match Info and Live Scores.