The stage is all set for the clash of the ‘Giant Slayers‘ at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. Karolina Pliskova and Anna Blinkova will take on each other in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in just a few hours in what will be their third meeting on the Tour. Who will have the last laugh in this intriguing faceoff?

Both of them are currently in stellar form and are heading into the tournament after defeating some of the heavyweights of the game over the last couple of months. Pliskova has experience in her bag, while Blinkova has time and again proved her grit and hunger to make her mark on the bigger stages of the game. Let’s find out who’s slightly ahead on paper in this clash.

Karolina Pliskova vs Anna Blinkova: Preview

The former world number one, Karolina Pliskova has managed to get back into the Top 40 after her excellent run of form in the last month. The 31-year-old Czech tennis star started her campaign this year at the Brisbane International. She defeated Naomi Osaka in her first match but got defeated in the R16. Pliskova struggled in Adelaide and Melbourne but came back with the Winners Open defeating Romania’s Ana Bogdan by 6-4,6-3.

Pliskova won a title after almost four years and then she carried forward that momentum to Doha, where she yet again defeated Naomi Osaka in the QF. But eventually, she had to pull out of her match against Iga Swiatek in the SF due to exhaustion. In the Dubai Tennis Championships, she lost to Coco Gauff in the R16. Her Transylvania Open triumph will bring in enormous confidence ahead of her Indian Wells campaign.

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But, Anna Blinkova is a mighty challenger, although she didn’t have a great start to her season in Australia until the Melbourne Slam. She did a herculean task of defeating the former world no.3, Elena Rybakina in the second round match of the AO by a 6-4,4-6,7-6(20) margin.

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So, despite ranking 6 places above the 45th-ranked Anna Blinkova, the Czech tennis star would surely not take this opponent lightly. After her heroics at the AO, she reached the QF of the San Diego Open just a few days ago. That’d surely add to her confidence in facing the big server from the Czech Republic.

Pliskova vs Blinkova: Head-to-Head

The duo has previously met each other on two occasions, first at the 2017 AO, where Karolina Pliskova defeated Anna Blinkova by 6-0,6-2. However, their last meeting was three years later at the R16 of the 2020 Italian Open, when the Czech came out victorious again. Last year Pliskova made it to the R16 at the Indian Wells whereas, Blinkova could only manage up to the second round.

Prediction: A hard-fought victory for Pliskova

Karolina Pliskova has an overall win-loss record of 12-4 in 2024, with a 7-4 scoreline on hard courts. However, Anna Blinkova has an overall 5-6 win-loss record in 2024 with a 4-4 on hard courts. Pliskova reached the SF of the tournament in 2016 and 2017, whereas Blinkova’s best performance came last year when she reached the second round.

The 25YO Russian’s inconsistency has been a major concern throughout her career so far. Karolina Pliskova, on the other hand, has never lost a first-round match in Indian Wells. Previous encounters have been a cakewalk for Pliskova, but their current form says this match is going to be quite an exciting encounter and it’ll surely go deep. What do you say?

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