Caroline Garcia vs Yulia Putintseva Prediction: Putintseva enters as the underdog

The WTA scene is slowly hurling towards the Roland Garros tournament, also known as the French Open. It means that the surface will be clay here and it will be all the way Clay now. In another battle on the clay, Caroline Garcia takes on Yulia Putintseva in the Round of 64 in the Madrid Open.

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Caroline Garcia comes into the tournament after getting beaten down by Anastasia Potapova in the Quarter-Final of the Stuggart Open. Before that, she had lost in the Round of 64 against Sorana Cirstea. She also lost to veteran Cirstea during Indian Wells Masters. The Australian Open campaign lasted till fourth round where she was stunned by Magda Linette. The period before the Australian Open was the most productive for Caroline where she was on a roll. Because of that run, she has rose up to number five on the rankings and remains a high-profile player.

Yulia enters the match-up after defeating Claire Liu 6-4, 6-4 in the Round of 128. In that match, she was even Stevens in terms of service points, tied at 38 points. However, it was the return game that saw her storm ahead as she gathered a 35-24 receiving points edge. Yulia last played during Charleston Open where she was defeated in the second round by Ekaterina Alexandrova. Putintseva hasn’t made it past the first round and her best result came during Abu Dhabi Open, where she reached the fourth round, only to lose to Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Caroline and Yulia are meeting for the fourth time and surprisingly, Yulia has a three-nil h2h advantage. However, the last time they faced off was way back in 2014 during Limoges Open, when Yulia won 7-5, 6-4.

Caroline has been beaten once by Yulia on clay and that means a lot. However, what also means a lot is that Yulia isn’t the same player she was in 2014 and Caroline continues to be on the top of her. That’s why I back Caroline to win here.