Tennis Betting Advice - February 2018

Mexico makes sense for 18/1 Mladenovic…

Sunday 25th February 2018

In your Ones to Watch email today:

  • A new week, and some words of wisdom…
  • Mexico makes sense for 18/1 Mladenovic…
  • More to come…

A new week, and some words of wisdom…

Last week was a busy one with five tournaments and lots of matches that we got involved in. Things didn’t go our way.

I could rant for a bit about a couple of close tiebreaks that our players lost, or injury withdrawals – but I’ll just sum for now with a word on our two most recent selections from Friday.

Our pick Denis Shapovalov played well and won an entertaining match v Taylor Fritz, 7-5 6-4. But our other match pick Reilly Opelka let his head drop after losing a tight first set in his match, 7-6 – and went down 6-3 in the 2nd set.

A late friend of mine once gave me a wonderful piece of advice on the betting game: there’s always tomorrow.

We move on. I’m looking for value and winning opportunities on your behalf. The tennis season hits full swing from now on and there’s plenty to look forward to.

This week there are four tournaments on the calendar, with the men & women both in Acapulco…

  • ATP Acapulco – hard
  • WTA Acapulco – hard
  • ATP Dubai – hard
  • ATP Sao Paolo – clay

We’ll visit the other events as the week pans out, but the first player I want to be on is in Mexico…

Mexico makes sense for 18/1 Mladenovic…

If you’ve been following my Form Watch feature in your additional weekly Ones to Watch EXTRA emails then you’ll have seen Kristina Mladenovic pop up a few times recently…

Mladenovic endured a torrid 15-match losing streak after Wimbledon, but showed real signs of life when snapping that run in St Petersburg recently – going on to reach the final.

With points to defend there (having won St Petersburg in 2017), the Frenchwoman’s return to something like her expected level of form was significant. She’s won 3 out of 5 matches since then and after saying she needed a few days to recharge her batteries after a 1st Round defeat in Dubai last week, Kristina looks to have arrived in Mexico fresh and ready to go again…

Crucially, Mladenovic made the Acapulco final last season – so there are more important ranking points for her to defend here in Mexico.

Kristina’s tennis-player boyfriend is here too; Dominic Thiem is playing in the Men’s event.

The vibes and timing seem good.

With a spring in her step since that St Petersburg breakthrough, Mladenovic can go well again this week.

The draw doesn’t look too bad for her – a qualifier up first, then possibly Heather Watson who Mladenovic beat at this event last year and has a 4-2 career head-to-head over.

Things could get tougher after that, but Mladenovic’s price looks a bit of value here…

Tournament favourite Sloane Stephens (8/1) is yet to win a match since winning the US Open for us last September. And the much-fancied Belinda Bencic looks plenty short enough at 7/1 having played little tennis at full WTA Tour level in recent months after coming back from injury.

Odds of 18/1, 16/1 and 14/1 look decent value for the 2nd seed Mladenovic – she’s as short as 8/1 with one bookie.

WTA Acapulco – Abierto Mexicano Telcel

Outright Winner

BET: Kristina Mladenovic @ 18/1 Each Way
BOOKIES: 18/1 (19.00) NetBet, 10Bet, 16/1 (17.00) Bet365, 14/1 (15.00) William Hill, Coral, Ladbrokes
STAKE: 1 pt – Each Way
Latest odds here

  • Each Way terms: 1/2 odds 1-2 places

I’ll be back on Monday afternoon with more on this week’s tournaments.

Enjoy the tennis...

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch