WTA Eastbourne 2021: Iga Swiatek vs Heather Watson Preview, Head to Head and Predictions for Viking International

In the opening round at the WTA Eastbourne 2021, World No. 9 and the 4th seeded Iga Swiatek will be up against World No. 70 Heather Watson.

Iga Swiatek vs Heather Watson : Match Details

Iga Swiatek vs Heather Watson : Preview

Iga Swiatek is set to make her Grass debut for the season after playing on the surface for the first time in the 2019 season. The Polish star comes to Eastbourne from the 2021 French Open where she was defeated in the quarter-finals by Maria Sakkari in straight-sets which became the first occasion where Swiatek dropped sets in the French Open for the first time since 2019 edition.

Swiatek last played on Grass in her 1st round defeat at the 2019 Wimbledon but with some great results since then, it will be interesting to see how the youngster copes with change in surface and adapts to it.

Heather Watson will play her 3rd tournament on Grass this year after featuring previously at the tournaments in Nottingham and Birmingham. She had a good run at the 2021 Birmingham Open where she made it till the semi-finals of the competition before losing out to Ons Jabeur in straight-sets.

She had a poor run during the Clay season failing to win a single match in her 3 matches she played while winning only 2 of the 7 matches she played on Hardcourts. She has however made a good start to the Grass season.

Iga Swiatek vs Heather Watson : Head to Head

This will be the 2nd meeting between the duo, who last played against each other in the 2019 Rogers Cup where Swiatek won in straight-sets, leads the head-to-head tie 1-0.

Iga Swiatek vs Heather Watson : Prediction

Watson will come into the clash with a career Grass record of 49-44 and a season record of 7-11. She will be looking to extend her winning run after having played more matches on Grass this season and is better adapted to the surface.

Swiatek will come into the clash with a career record of 3-3 and a season record of 23-6. She already has two titles this season with the last she won at the WTA Italian Open 2021 where she won the finals dishing out double bagel in the finals. With her current form, she will be the favourite to win the clash and advance ahead into the tie.

Prediction: Iga Swiatek to win in 3-sets.

Also Read: WTA Eastbourne 2021: Women’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Predictions for Viking International