Tennis Betting Advice - January 2018
12/1 and 14/1 picks for the Taiwan Open...
Monday 29th January 2018
In your Ones to Watch email today:
Welcome to your new members-only Ones to Watch service...
Things move fast in tennis. Only yesterday we were in Melbourne looking at the Australian Open final. Today we’re off to Taiwan for the first event in our new weekly coverage...
12/1 and 14/1 picks for the Taiwan Open...
Event: WTA Taipei – Taiwan Open
Surface: Indoor Hard
I was originally intending to start with a look at the WTA St Petersburg event, but at the time of writing the bookies are being a little tentative putting up their Outright Winner markets...
That’s understandable as Saturday’s Australian Open champion and new Women’s World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki is supposed to be playing, and will go down as the favourite if she does. It’s a big ‘if’ for me, as Grand Slam champs often take a bit of time out after a gruelling two weeks. St Petersburg is a Premier level WTA event but that’s nothing compared to the glory of a Grand Slam.
We’ll see how the opening couple of days in Russia shape up.
The players and prices I like right now are Yulia Putintseva at 14/1 and Shuai Peng at 12/1 in the WTA Taipei event...
This time last year, Putintseva – who now represents Kazakhstan, having previously played under the Russian flag – was playing in St Petersburg, where she reached her first and to date only WTA final.
The 23-year-old World No.51 is in Taipei City this time, and looks capable of making a run through the bottom half of the Taiwan Open draw at a decent price.
After World No.34 Shuai Zhang lost in the 1st Round, Putintseva is the highest-ranked player left in the bottom half. She’s made a quiet but okay start to 2018, winning two 1st Round matches before losing to two in-form players, Ana Bogdan and Lesia Tsurenko before arriving here.
Putintseva safely negotiated her opening match with a 2-0 win, and with this Taipei field looking less than intimidating, her price could drop well below the current 14/1 with a couple of wins over the next few days.
Tournament favourite Timea Babos (8/1) is in the top half of the draw, where Shuai Peng is the highest-ranked player in the tournament (ranked No.31). Babos was in Melbourne until the end, having won the Australian Open Women’s Doubles then lost in the Mixed Doubles final on Sunday, so may not be fully fresh here.
Peng lost in the 1st Round in Australia two weeks ago but the 32-year-old Chinese veteran has a good record playing in this part of the world...
She made the final here in Taipei last year, finishing runner-up to Elina Svitolina – who went on to win five titles last year and ended up being the Aussie Open 2018 favourite. Svitolina isn’t here to defend her title.
Peng’s last eight appearances in tournament finals have all come in China – a record that stretches back to 2013.
Shuai has a tough-looking opening match against Bogdan in the morning (4am UK time), but she has the guile to trouble her younger and harder hitting Romanian opponent, who is prone to making errors. If the experienced Peng can get past that one, she could go far in Taipei once again.
A 12/1 and 14/1 Each Way, Peng and Putintseva are our first Ones to Watch picks this week.
WTA Taipei – Taiwan Open
Outright Winner – Each Way terms: 1/2 odds 1-2 places
BET: Yulia Putintseva @ 14/1 Each Way
BOOKIES: 14/1 (15.00) Bet365, Skybet, Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook
STAKE: 1 pt – Each Way
BET: Shuai Peng @ 12/1 Each Way
BOOKIES: 12/1 (13.00) Bet365, 11/1 (12.00) NetBet, 10Bet, 9/1 (10.00) Betfred
STAKE: 1 pt – Each Way
Play starts in Taipei around 2am UK time, so get your bets on tonight. Most bookies take down the Outright markets during play.
Look out for your Password info tomorrow...
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P.S
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Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson