Tennis Betting Advice - August 2020
Add this 20/1 shot in the States...
Tuesday 11th August 2020
In your Ones to Watch email today:
After Sunday night’s highs, we were briefly brought crashing back down to earth on Monday. Veronika Kudermetova went out of WTA Prague in straight sets to Eugenie Bouchard, including a 6-0 whitewash in the first set.
That 6-0 wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Kudermetova had break points in each of the Canadian’s service games – but couldn’t convert any of them.
The 23-year-old Russian is on our Ones to Watch 2020 list for a reason. We’ll be looking to back her again when the situation suits, especially when we can get odds of 50/1+ in a weekly WTA event, as we did here.
The evening ended better in the States, with 33/1 Magda Linette moving through to the 2nd round with a strong 6-2, 6-3 win over Lauren Davis. Linette only lost her serve once in that match, which is good going.
Our other 33/1 pick for WTA Lexington, Anna Blinkova, plays in the 1st round later today. The 21-year-old Russian is a 4/7 (1.57) favourite to get past American qualifier, Kristie Ahn.
Add this 20/1 shot in the States…
I wouldn’t usually have this many tournament selections in one week. But with the bottom half of the Lexington draw looking ripe for an outsider to come through. And having stayed up late last night watching the day one matches, with my thoughts firmed-up after what I saw, we can move to add one last player to our list in Kentucky this week.
When the Outright Winner market first went up on Sunday, Ons Jabeur was a 20/1 shot. After a convincing 6-2, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old Caty McNally yesterday (the 18-year-old is Coco Gauff’s Doubles partner), I’m pleasantly surprised to see that 20/1 is still around this morning.
I wanted to see what kind of shape Jabeur was in after the long, enforced break. The silky hand skills and punishing shots were there on display, and any rustiness was only natural after five months with no tour tennis.
The Tunisian won a very high 86% of her first serve points. Which bodes well for a very winnable looking 2nd round meeting against either Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who is 35 years old and mainly a Doubles player these days, or 31-year-old Olga Govortsova. Both those women are ranked outside the top 100. A win there would take Ons to the quarter finals.
Age 25, Jabeur has hit a career-high of no.39 in the world this year. The standout result was a run to the quarter finals of the Australian Open in January, where she made history by becoming the first Arab woman to ever reach that stage of a Grand Slam.
A maiden first WTA title is the next achievement to aim for…
Having watched the hit-or-miss Aryna Sabalenka make a bit of a meal of her 1st round match last night, needing the full three sets to get past Madison Brengle despite dominating pretty much every rally. The Belarusian looked a little tired at times in that match. I could see Jabeur giving Sabalenka the run-around if they do end up meeting at the quarter final stage this week.
At 20/1 (or as close as you can get), Jabeur is my final choice of the week when it comes to an underdog with potential in the Outright market in Lexington.
Ones to Watch:
Outright Winner pick – Each Way
Each Way terms: 1/2 odds 1-2 places.
WTA Lexington and WTA Prague are both being shown live on Amazon Prime Video every day this week.
Play starts in Lexington today from 4pm UK time (bookies suspend their Outright Winner markets during play).
I’ll be back throughout the week with my next updates for you.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson