Jennifer Brady will meet world number 20 Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of the 2023 Canadian Open Montreal on Monday, August 7, 2023.
Brady and Ostapenko are set for a rematch, over 700 days in the making. Their match in Cincinnati two years ago still remains in Brady's memory bank. It was significant because the American retired due to an injury, and we never saw her pick up a racket until this summer.
So in a way, it might feel like a bad omen for Brady to jump straight into action and rekindle memories of playing Ostapenko. But at the same time, it would be quite the statement if she is able to pull off her first Top 20 win since her return to action less than a month ago.
Brady has only played a couple of tournaments. The first was a W100 ITF in Granby, Canada, where she lost in the second round. Her most recent outing came in Washington where she also lost in the second round to fellow American Madison Keys, but she managed to get a very good win over Anhelina Kalinina in her opener at the WTA 500 event.
Ostapenko hasn't been on Tour for precisely a month. She lost to Sorana Cirstea in the second round of Wimbledon, which was a major upset considering her form coming to the tournament. But after recharging her batteries and taking sufficient rest time, we expect the Latvian to come out swinging.
Head-to-head:
The head-to-head between Brady and Ostapenko is tied at 2-2, split between matches on hard and clay courts. Ostapenko's most recent win was the one with an asterisk because it came as a result of Brady retiring from the match. Just a few months before that tournament, Brady dropped only three games to Ostapenko in a Madrid rout.
Prediction:
Ostapenko doesn't enjoy her trips to Canada. In six visits, she has lost the first round three times (all in Montreal), and her three only wins have been in Toronto. Nevertheless, she has had a good year, notching so many eye-catching results and winning a WTA title.
But even in the midst of one of her best seasons, Ostapenko still remains prone to the occasional incomprehensible defeat, such as the one in Madrid or at the French Open. But she'll still be relatively comfortable to win this match.
The Latvian's unconstrained power is something very few players on Tour have the capacity to withstand. And given that Brady is still woefully short in match sharpness, she'll struggle to cope with that aggression.
Prediction: Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets.
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