Tennis Betting Advice - February 2026
WTA Abu Dhabi update: Eala brings the drama...
Thursday 5th February 2026
Judging by this Oddscheckergraphic, it looks like you and many of your other Ones to Watch members are on Alexandra Eala at WTA Abu Dhabi this week…
Advised on Tuesday and settling at 16/1 in the Outright Winner market that evening, our 20-year-old pick was true to form in her round-of-last-16 match in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday…
Eala saved a match point against Aliaksandra Sasnovich and came from 4-0 and 5-2 down in the final set – pulling off a remarkable, dramatic, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 fightback victory. Spurred on by (once again) some huge and noisy Filipino support in the stands.
That performance – and result – franked what I’ve been saying about the gutsy Eala over the past year or so. Including in this week’s preview:
“You know she’s always going to give her all, fighting for every point with a never-say-die attitude”
The lung-busting left-hander will likely need some more of that grit and determination today. Eala is into the Abu Dhabi quarter finals this afternoon, where she’ll take on the new tournament favourite, Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The bookies make world no.11 Alexandrova a strong favourite to beat our player today. The 31-year-old Russian, as we’ve commented before, has all the power and big shots to blow opponents off the court when she’s on song. But throughout her career, Alexandrova has also thrown in far too many wobbly performances, where her game becomes blighted by double faults, unforced errors – and dare I say it, nerves…
That latter point could prove significant today. The crowd in this match will be 90% (if not more) in favour of the charismatic youngster, Eala. The crowd noise and reactions certainly got into her opponent Sasnovich’s head in the last round. Our Ones to Watch youngster is plenty sharp enough to know she’ll need to harness the crowd energy in her favour again this afternoon.
One more thing…
Before I go today, a note on why I was happy enough for us to take 16/1 for Eala the other evening (as per my update on WhatsApp). She had been 20/1 in general the night before, but between then and my bet advice going out to you, not only had one of the top seeds been knocked out (Emma Navarro). But by Wednesday morning, the news had also officially broken that the outright favourite and two-time former Abu Dhabi champion, Belinda Bencic, had withdrawn from the tournament. Both of which were naturally going to be factored in to the bookies’ revised prices.
On that point, I’d be interested to hear if anyone got the 22/1 offered for Eala by BetMGM & co on Tuesday night… seeing as their market was still (incorrectly) listing Navarro, who by that point had already been knocked out. The bookmaker may claim palpable error in that circumstance; we’ll see.
P.S
Want to get in touch? Email me at: oliver@spapublishinggroup.co.uk
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone