World number 11 Paula Badosa takes on the 85th-ranked Jaqueline Cristian in the second round of the 2025 WTA Merida Open which will be played on Wednesday, February 26. Get all the Paula Badosa v Jaqueline Cristian predictions, betting tips and odds for this encounter in the section below.
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Paula Badosa v Jaqueline Cristian Head to Head
Their only previous meeting came on the ITF circuit in 2019 and Cristian had won that match.
Badosa Returns after Dubai Third Round Loss
Paula Badosa did not start the season off too well with losses in the second round at both Brisbane and Adelaide but then against the run of play she made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open. It took her good friend and world number one Aryna Sabalenka to get the better of Badosa there.
Since then, however, Badosa has not had a solid run again.
She has featured in three tournaments and won three matches – an opening loss in Abu Dhabi was followed by a second round defeat in Doha. And more recently, Badosa bit the dust in the third round of the WTA Dubai when Elena Rybakina came back from a set down to win the next two in tie-breakers.
Badosa had a first round bye here and now faces a player who is coming off an easy first round win.
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Cristian Benefits from Starodubtseva Retirement
It took Jaqueline Cristian a tick over an hour and a half to get what she wanted in the first round here.
She was leading Yulia Starodubtseva 6-4, 4-1 in her opener when her opponent retired from the encounter with fitness issues and gave Cristian a slot in the second round.
This was Cristian’s first win since she defeated Lucia Bronzetti in the second round of the Australian Open. She had lost to Eva Lys in the next match and followed that up with a first round loss at Cluj-Napoca and a qualifying defeat in Dubai.
Once ranked 57th in the world, Cristian has fallen to 85th at the moment but it’s results like these that would help. What would also help is if she can go deep into competitions but for that Cristian will need to get the better of players like Badosa – like she did last year at the China Open when she overcame top-10 Barbora Krejcikova.
Badosa v Cristian Prediction
Badosa is 1/6 to win this and while these might be just odds given the gulf of quality between these two players we also think it might not be that easy for her.
Badosa v Cristian Tips
- Over 19.5 games in the match: 5/6
