Lexington 2020: Jennifer Brady vs Marie Bouzkova preview, head-to-head & prediction | Top Seed Open

Jennifer Brady was playing some impressive tennis at the start of the 2020 season, and has managed to pick up right where she left off. The American has made the quarterfinals of the Top Seed Open with back-to-back impressive, straight-sets wins.

Brady looked especially strong in her second round win over sixth seed Magda Linette. She delivered a terrific serving performance and barely gave her opponent a look at a break opportunity.

The American will need to continue the same sort of form heading into the last eight as she faces another tough opponent in Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova.

Marie Bouzkova is at a career high ranking.

Bouzkova has also had a solid week in Lexington so far. She started off by taking out the third seed Johanna Konta, and backed that up with another good win over fellow Next Gen player Anna Blinkova.

This Czech had already shown her affinity for the continent's hardcourts at last year's Rogers Cup, where she not only made the semifinals, but also took out three Grand Slam champions in a row.

Bouzkova offers nice variety from the back of the court and can hit big flat winners as well as a topspin-heavy defensive moonball. That's exactly the sort of style that helped her hold her own against the likes of Jelena Ostapenko and Serena Williams last year, as well as Konta earlier this week.

Jennifer Brady vs Marie Bouzkova head-to-head

Jennifer Brady has been firing winners all week, specially off the forehand wing

This marks the first ever tour meeting between the two women and as it stands, there's very little to choose between them.

With just the one point separating them in the rankings, there's no clear favorite coming into this one. In fact, both women have been in fine form for some time, and have even had similarly dominant wins this week.

That said, Jennifer Brady has been slightly stronger behind her serve. She has been winning well over 70% of the points when she gets first delivery in, but a tough test awaits against a good returner.

Jennifer Brady vs Marie Bouzkova prediction

While you'd be tempted to give an edge to Brady given her obvious weapons in serve and forehand as well as the home advantage, she has proven to be volatile in the past. The American relies heavily on her serve and can falter if that part of her game is not working well.

If Bouzkova can find a way into the Brady service games and keep the pressure on, she will get rewarded sooner or later. But that's easier said than done.

Prediction: Jennifer Brady to win in three sets.

Match details

Tournament: Top Seed Open 2020

Venue: Lexington, USA

Category: WTA International

Surface: Hardcourt

Prize money: $225,500

Match timing: 2 pm EDT, 11.30 pm IST