Pavlyuchenkova vs Fernandez: prediction for the WTA Rome match

Since the start of 2022 season Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova played only four matches. Russian player has reached the third round of Australian Open and after that she returned to the court only on April 29, at Madrid tournament. However, there was a reason of such a long pause. Pavlyuchenkova had a knee surgery and needed some time to recover. 

It was hard to expect a successful performance from Anastasia at Madrid. She was defeated by Sorribes Tormo in the first round, but managed to win one set (3:6, 6:2, 3:6). Pavlyuchenkova don't have any major achievements in Rome - out of three latest tournaments here she went past the first round only once. 

In the current season Leylah is trying to secure a Top-20 position. She is currently 20th WTA player. 19-year old Canadian player has won a title at Monterrey. 

Fernandez is not so comfortable on clay courts. One week ago, she narrowly beat Petkovic at Madrid (6:1, 1:6, 6:4) only to be eliminated by Teichmann (4:6, 4:6) in the next round. Fernandez performed at the Italian capital twice, but was unable to get past qualification.