Third seed Jessica Pegula will face big-hitting Italian Camila Giorgi in the first round of the 2023 US Open. The match will be played on Tuesday, August 29, 2023.
Jessica Pegula has a seemingly tough opening match at this year’s US Open. A matchup against Camila Giorgi isn’t something seeded players are fond of, given the Italian’s knack for defying the odds against the WTA’s established Top-10 players. But Pegula has a near-perfect record in the head-to-head and won’t lose sleep coming up against one of the most destructive ball strikers in the women’s game. Pegula is armed with a brick-wall defense and has excellent retrieval skills, and frustrating Giorgi with her counterpunching skills will be the order of the day. The third seed has tallied eight match wins in the build-up to the US Open culminating in the biggest title win of her career at the Canadian Open.
Camila Giorgi is unseeded at the 2023 US Open which explains why she’s drawn the short straw here. The pint-sized Italian famously reached the second week of the New York Slam as a qualifier, a decade ago, back when she was a massive prospect on the WTA Tour. Giorgi has won four career titles including a WTA 1000 in Montreal a couple of years ago, but her consistency has fluctuated for the most part throughout her career, as is her one-dimensional power-packed game, which can blow hot and cold at varying times during a match. Let’s see if she can put together a perfect game plan to address her poor record against Jessica Pegula.
Jessica Pegula owns a commanding 6-1 head-to-head record. The last time they clashed was at this year’s French Open where the Italian power hitter retired after dropping the opening set 6-2 due to an undisclosed injury. Prior to that match, Pegula and Giorgi had played the full three sets in each of their previous three meetings, which is an indication that when the Italian turns it on, Pegula would need a second wind to combat that power. Nonetheless, we can’t see a surprise here. Pegula was in top gear during the hardcourt swing in Washington and Montreal and should be expected to charge past Giorgi very comfortably.
