Magda Linette vs Caroline Garcia Prediction: Garcia has hit her peak, Linette has been gutsy

The professional tennis scene is busy and we see hundreds of games take place every month, across many tournaments. Among these tournaments, Grand Slams are where the biggest stars gather and entertain us with their superb play. A Grand Slam title holds a lot of value, in terms of prize money, popularity, and rankings. To continue her rise to rankings, Caroline Garcia is going to take on Magda Linette in the Australian Open.

Linette enters the contest after defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-4 in the Round of 32. Magda did a great job of avoiding any double faults and outplayed Ekaternina both in terms of service and receiving points. She had a 37-30 service points advantage while having a 25-21 receiving points advantage. Linette had a rather tough draw and after overcoming Mayar Sherif, she had to go up against the former number two Anett Kontaveit which she won in three sets. Magda has been a top ITF player for years but her returns in the WTA have been on the shorter side. This is her best run during the Australian Open and she’d love to replicate what she did in the 2021 French Open when she reached the Semi-Finals.

Garcia enters the match after defeating Laura Siegemund 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Third Round. Garcia had 6 Aces and had a 70% first serve, winning 70% on the first serve. This wasn’t an easy win because she was outplayed 48:52 in terms of service points. It was her return game that bailed Caroline out as she had a 37:28 advantage. Garcia has been pushed around a bit thus far, Leylah made her play a tiebreaker and pushed her to seven games in the second set during the second round. Garcia has played the best tennis of her career since the midway point of last year and to put the cherry on top, she won the WTA Finals title. It is surprising she is yet to win a Grand Slam, but she reached the Semis of the US Open, which is her best Grand Slam return.

These two have met once, back in 2017 during Strasbourg Open. Garcia won in two straight sets.

Garcia has been in such a great rhythm that it is tough to bet against her. Linette has been playing some great tennis right now but her game can be exposed by Caroline’s aggressive game. Can Linette force a third set? Can she pull off an upset? I expect Caroline to come on top here in two sets.