Tennis Betting Advice - January 2021
Sam can prove a point at 22/1…
Wednesday 6th January 2021
In your Ones to Watch email today:
Good afternoon. I said it last night, and I’ll say it again: It’s good to be back. I’m excited for the new season…
There was a smile on my face when I woke up today. I’m not messing about when I say the feeling was better than Christmas morning 2020.
The tennis season is up and running. There are no fans at the venues. The players are in bubbles. Thing are going to be weird and cautious for a while yet. But… The. Tennis. Is. Back. As you can tell, I’m happy about that!
We kicked off our 2021 business yesterday with our new, Ones to Watch in 2021 report. This list contains a total of 20 players to keep an eye on this season – and beyond. You can read all about them in your new 2021 report, here.
The Outright Winner markets are where you and I go for the big kills. I named my first Each Way picks of the season yesterday, flagging up three women at odds ranging from 14/1 to 80/1, for WTA Abu Dhabi. Catch up on that email here.
As well as the Outright opportunities. I’ll also be paying a lot of attention this year to the match-day markets. We did well in this department with our ‘lockdown picks’ last summer.
And I reckon we can scoop up a bit of Match Winner value right away, with a match taking place in Abu Dhabi early on Thursday morning…
Underdog pick for the morning…
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
6am (UK time)
Plenty of contrasts here. Vondrousova is young. At 21 years of age, the Czech has already got a Grand Slam final under her belt. The left-hander was a 40/1 Each Way runner-up for us at the French Open 2019.
Su-Wei Hsieh has veteran status now, age 35. The Chinese Taipei player has still got plenty of tennis left in her though, still very much active in both Singles and Doubles.
Across all tiers of the women’s pro game, Hsieh has won a total of 25 Singles titles in her career. They have all come outside of Europe. Including an ITF trophy win in Dubai, here in the United Arab Emirates.
In comparison, Vondrousova has won seven titles so far – and all of them in Europe.
It’s possible that I’m reading too much into that. But I reckon the experienced Hsieh can give Vondrousova a closer match than the odds suggest here. The underdog can be backed at 13/5 (3.6) and 5/2 (3.5). That looks good to me.
One thing both these women do have in common is their craftiness. At times, Thursday’s match might resemble a drop-shot exhibition challenge.
Hsieh can make life tricky for her younger opponent tomorrow morning. The outsider odds appeal to me.
One to Watch in Delray Beach at 22/1…
On to the Outright Winner markets now, and the start of the men’s season. The ATP Tour 2021 kicks off with two 250-grade events, which is the lowest category on the full, Senior tour in terms of prestige and rankings points up for grabs.
As such, 250 tournaments don’t often attract many players from the highest echelons of the men’s game. That said, the Top 25 is represented across the two hard-court events taking place this week at ATP Delray Beach, USA and ATP Antalya in Turkey.
David Goffin, Alex De Minaur, Matteo Berrettini (Antalya), and Cristian Garin (Delray Beach) are among some of the more familiar names on the entry lists. All four of those men are single figures in the Outright betting this week, ranging from just 3/1 for Berrettini, to 8/1 for Garin.
In Turkey in particular, there’s not much to write home about in the Antalya field in terms of potential Each Way selections at tasty prices.
Delray Beach has a couple of areas of interest for us. The 1st round match between Kwon Soon-Woo and Sebastian Korda sees two of our new Ones to Watch in 2021names going face-to-face. In the Outright Winner market, Bet365 are a top-price 28/1 each for those two youngsters.
The market is headed-up by the now-35-year-old John Isner, at no bigger than 4/1. The 6’10” ace machine has never won this event. That’s a bit of an anomaly, considering 13 of his 15 career ATP titles have come ‘at home’ in the States.
Indeed, four of the last five winners of this event have been Americans. And that’s one factor that leads me to 33-year-old Sam Querrey here…
The 6’6” American – another massive server – won Delray Beach in 2016. And has also made the quarter finals and semi finals here before.
Sam can prove a point…
After a bit of controversy at the end of 2020, where Sam flew his family out of a tournament in Russia after testing positive for coronavirus. Querrey might come into week one of the new 2021 season with the bit between his teeth, and a point to prove.
The bookies make his 1st round match v fellow American, Mackenzie McDonald, a 50-50 affair, with both men around 10/11 (1.91) to win. If big Sam can negotiate his way through that one, then tournament odds of 22/1 and 20/1 will look pretty decent to have onside going into the rest of the week.
That’s my take on the markets and prices…
Ones to Watch:
ATP Delray Beach
Outright Winner – Each Way:
Each Way terms: 1/2 odds 1-2 places.
WTA Abu Dhabi
Match Winner:
Play starts in Abu Dhabi from 6am, UK time.
Delray Beach starts from 3pm Thursday. The bookies will take down their Outright Winner markets during the day’s play.
I’ll be back later in the week with an update for you.
Enjoy the tennis…
P.S
Want to get in touch? Email me at: tom.wilson@oxonpress.co.uk
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson