Cristian vs Pavlyuchenkova: prediction for the WTA Saint Petersburg match

One year ago Jaqueline Cristian put up a successful performance in Saint Petersburg, she reached the quarter-final of the competition. Will Romanian player record a victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on February 8? The answer is in our prediction.

Command Analysis

Jaqueline Cristian

23-year old Jaqueline Cristian is improving quickly, she is currently at the 58th position in the standings. Romanian player was not so successful in Australia. Nonetheless, she reached the second round at Sydney tournament and at Australian Open.
Saint Petersburg tournament is one of the favourite ones for Cristian. One year ago she managed to reach the quarter-final of that competition, starting from qualification, Cristian managed to beat Jelena Ostapenko along the way. In the quarter-final Romanian player suffered a narrow defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova (7:6, 3:6, 3:6).

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Due to coronavirus Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova failed to put up a successful performance in Australia. Before the start of Australian Open Russian player didn't play a single official match. After victories over Bondar and Stosur she suffered a defeat to Sorana Cirstea (3:6, 6:2, 2:6) and was eliminated from the tournament.
Pavlyuchenkova is a regular guest here, at Saint Petersburg. Her results in that tournament are inconsistent. In three most recent editions of that competition she was eliminated in the first round, after that - in the quarter-final, after that - in the second round. First round matches at that tournament were always difficult for the Russian player - she failed to beat anyone by a margin of at least four games.
Trends
СтавкаSets performance: 1>2
In two out of three most recent matches of Pavlyuchenkova this bet was successful

Ставка1st set: total over 10,5
In three out of five most recent Cristian's matches more than ten games were played in the first set

Tip and bets
We shouldn't underestimate the Romanian player in the upcoming match. Cristian significantly improved lately, she possesses a powerful serve. Crisitan also performed successfully in the previous Saint Petersburg tournament and now she will try to defend ranking points. Pavlyuchenkova will have a difficult transition to indoor courts, she had problems here in recent editions of the tournament. We are not expecting a confident victory from the favourite here.
Our prediction - Cristian to win with a handicap of (+5) games
Cristian is a very hard-working player. In all of Romanian's matches since the start of the season at least 19 games were played. In our prediction we are expecting a long match.
Our second bet is on total over 19 games