Tennis Betting Advice - February 2026
One to Watch in Abu Dhabi this week...
Tuesday 3rd February 2026
There’s only one player from our Ones to Watch in 2026 list who I want to back this week. And that’s 20-year-old ALEXANDRA EALA…
The feisty left-hander is an easy player to back. You know she’s always going to give her all, fighting for every point with a never-say-die attitude. Some might say the fist-pumping and arm-waving is a bit much; I say I like her self-belief. She’s an honest player.
The left-hander drew massive crowds at last month's Australian Open, and as I alluded to in the pre-season report, Alexandra is going to have to get used to being a Filipino superstar. The attention is only going to get more intense, the more she wins…
Eala is now up to a new career-best ranking of no.45 in the world. She started impressively at the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi on Monday. A straight-sets win can set the scene for another one of her already-trademark gutsy, underdog runs this week.
The youngster is priced as the favourite to win her next match, against Lucky Loser, 31-year-old Aliaksandra Sasnovich, on Wednesday.
World no.109 Sasnovich originally lost to Britain’s Sonay Kartal in qualifying, before being handed a place in the main draw due to injury withdrawals. Kartal herself is in the opposite side of the draw, where she’ll take on tournament favourite Belinda Bencic. Swiss mum-on-tour Bencic has won this event the two times she’s played it before (2025, 2023).
With two of the big/ seeded names already out of Eala’s side of the draw in the opening two days here in Abu Dhabi – 4th seed Emma Navarro and 8th seed Paula Badosa. And Tuesday’s play still taking place as I write this article this afternoon. We have to wait and see what price our Ones to Watch player will come out at in this evening’s revised Outright Winner market (view the market on Oddschecker, here).
What I can tell you is that on Monday night, Eala was 20/1 in general, and 25/1 with BetMGM & co (that’s the likes of VirginBet, LiveScoreBet, and BetUK – all powered by the same sportsbook).
Considering this 500-grade tournament has seen 33/1, 18/1, 10/1, and 50/1 runners-up in its previous four incarnations. Eala fits the bill from here, in more ways than one. She’ll certainly be eyeing-up a big run to the latter stages for herself, that’s for sure. Alexandra has great drive and ambition.
We can’t control what prices we’ll see when the market reappears online tonight. But we should be on the lookout for 20/1 or thereabouts (eg. 18/1 – 16/1) for Eala. And betting Each Way, as usual (1/2 odds 1-2 places).
** Once the bookies are up, I’ll send a quick price update tonight, on WhatsApp. **
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Ones to Watch picks:
See above for full details
Outright Winner – Each Way (1/2 odds 1-2 places)
WTA Abu Dhabi – Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council
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I’ll be back on Thursday with your next email.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone