San Diego Open 2022: Paula Badosa vs Louisa Chirico preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (2) Paula Badosa vs (Q) Louisa Chirico.

Date: October 12, 2022.

Tournament: San Diego Open 2022.

Round: Second round (Round of 16).

Venue: Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego, California, United States.

Category: WTA 500.

Surface: Hardcourt.

Prize money: $757,900.

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK – Amazon Prime Video.

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Paula Badosa vs Louisa Chirico preview

Paula Badosa at the 2022 Australian Open.

Following a first-round bye, World No. 4 Paula Badosa will lock horns with qualifier Louisa Chirico in the second round of the 2022 San Diego Open.

After a strong start to the year, Badosa has slowly faded into the background with her string of poor results. She won her third career title in Sydney and then made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open. This was followed by an underwhelming Middle East swing.

The Spaniard performed quite well in her next few events, reaching the semifinals at Indian Wells and Stuttgart and the quarterfinals in Miami and Charleston. Badosa's results were rather average after this, including a third-round exit from the French Open. She went a step further at Wimbledon, going out in the fourth round.

A semifinal showing at the Silicon Valley Classic wasn't indicative of a return to form. Badosa made consecutive first-round exits from the WTA 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati. She lost in the second round of the US Open and has struggled since then, leaving Tokyo and Ostrava without a victory under her belt.

Louisa Chirico at the 2022 Citi Open.

Louisa Chirico defeated Yulia Putintseva and Ashlyn Krueger to qualify for the main draw in San Diego. She was up against fellow American Alison Riske-Amritraj in the first round.

She lost the opening set quite easily and fell behind 4-0 in the second set. It looked like she was staring at yet another loss, but she rallied to win seven of the next eight games to clinch the set and take the match to a decider.

Riske went up a break in the final set and served for the match at 5-4, but was unable to close out the proceedings despite holding a match point. Chirico leveled the score with a break of serve but got broken once again to trail 6-5.

However, Riske failed to close out the match on her second try as well, pushing the set into a tie-break. Chirico came out on top in the end to win the match 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5). This was her first main draw victory on the WTA tour since 2017.

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Paula Badosa vs Louisa Chirico head-to-head

Badosa leads Chirico 1-0 in the head-to-head. She won their previous encounter at the 2022 Wimbledon in straight sets.

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Paula Badosa vs Louisa Chirico odds

Player	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games
Paula Badosa	-500	+1.5 (-1400)	Over 19.5 (-135)
Louisa Chirico	+333	-1.5 (+600)	Under 19.5 (-105)

All odds are sourced from BetMGM.

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Paula Badosa vs Louisa Chirico prediction

Paula Badosa at the 2022 Miami Open.

Chirico staged a comeback for the ages with her win over Riske-Amritraj in the first round. Including qualifying, she has won three matches in a row, while Badosa is on a three-match losing streak at the moment.

The Spaniard did show a lot of heart in her previous defeat against Petra Kvitova in Ostrava. If Badosa can display a similar level once again, she should be able to get past Chirico.

The American played some inspired tennis and hit brilliant winners under pressure, to which her opponent had no answers. The World No. 4 is capable of matching her in aggressiveness, but of late seems to prefer a more defensive approach to her game. While Badosa has had her share of troubles recently, she should be able to get past Chirico at the very least.

Pick: Paula Badosa to win in straight sets.