Wimbledon 2022: Paula Badosa vs Irina Bara preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (4) Paula Badosa vs Irina Bara

Date: June 30, 2022.

Tournament: Wimbledon 2022.

Round: Second round (Round of 64).

Venue: London, United Kingdom.

Category: Grand Slam.

Surface: Grass.

Prize money: £40,350,000.

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel & ESPN | Canada - TSN | UK - BBC & Eurosport | India - Star Sports & Disney+ Hotstar

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Paula Badosa vs Irina Bara preview

Fourth seed Paula Badosa will lock horns with World No. 122 Irina Bara on Thursday for a spot in the third round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.

Badosa made a fantastic start to the year, winning the title in Sydney and backing it up with a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open. She also reached the semifinals in Indian Wells, which was followed by a couple of quarterfinals in Miami and Charleston in a successful North American swing.

But once the tour moved to Europe, the 24-year-old struggled for consistency, with her only notable result being a semifinal finish in Stuttgart.

At Roland Garros, the Spaniard unfortunately injured her right calf midway through her third-round match against Veronika Kudermetova before being forced to retire.

Badosa's build-up to Wimbledon was thus limited. She managed to play only one match in Eastbourne, where she suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss at the hands of lower-ranked Jodie Burrage.

However, that couldn't deter the World No. 4 from making a bright start to her Wimbledon campaign. The Spaniard dropped just three games en route to a thunderous 6-2, 6-1 win over Louisa Chirico on Tuesday.

Irina Bara in action at the 2022 Championships

The 122nd-ranked Irina Bara, meanwhile, has a WTA title in doubles but none in singles. With nine ITF titles in her kitty, the Romanian reached a career-high world ranking of 104 in April this year.

The 27-year-old came to Wimbledon on the back of a 18-17 win-loss record for the season. While her best performance on the tour has so far been a quarterfinal at the WTA 250 event in Bogota, she made the semifinals at an ITF 100,000 event in Florida.

On Tuesday, Bara made a memorable main-draw debut at Wimbledon with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Chloe Paquet.

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Paula Badosa vs Irina Bara head-to-head

Badosa has a flawless 2-0 lead in her head-to-head with Bara, with both her wins coming in three tight sets. The Spaniard first beat Bara 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in Valencia in 2018 before earning a 6-0, 6-7(4), 6-2 win at Burnie the following year.

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Paula Badosa vs Irina Bara odds

Player	Moneyline	Handicap bets	Total Games (Over & Under)
Paula Badosa	-1600	-6.5 (-120)	Over 17.5 (-125)
Irina Bara	+900	+6.5 (-110)	Under 17.5 (+105)

(All odds are sourced from Oddschecker)

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Paula Badosa vs Irina Bara prediction

Paula Badosa strikes the ball at the 2022 Championships

Badosa comes into this contest as the overwhelming favorite by dint of her ranking and experience at the highest level of the sport. The Spaniard, who made the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, made a fast start to her campaign on Tuesday, showing no signs of any physical discomfort.

Badosa broke Chirico's serve five times and won all six of her net approaches. That said, there are still areas where the fourth seed needs to improve. Badosa coughed up four double faults and committed 16 unforced errors to 11 winners in her first round. Understandably, the World No. 4 is still short of match practice and will be keen to get better with every outing.

These shortcomings will likely not affect Badosa in her next match against Bara, for whom grass isn't a natural surface. The Romanian is primarily a claycourter who enjoys playing loopy groundstrokes from the baseline.

If Badosa can find her aggressive strokes right from the start of the match and keep her unforced errors to a minimum, Bara won't get much of a chance against the Spaniard.

Pick: Paula Badosa to win in straight sets.

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Also Check Out :- Wimbledon 2022 Schedule

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