Tennis Betting Advice - March 2018
Miami Open - two match picks for this evening...
Thursday 22nd March 2018
In your Ones to Watch email today:
The Miami Open is underway…
Our Outright Winner picks are all due to play their first matches over the next 24 hours or so. We have three Each Way selections – 100/1 Carla Suarez Navarro and 80/1 Elise Mertens in the Women’s, and 40/1 Hyeon Chung in the Men’s.
Two match picks for this evening…
It’s the Women’s Miami Open that gets my attention again today, with two Match Winner opportunities catching the eye…
Sorana Cirstea v Su-Wei Hsieh
WTA Miami – Miami Open
Match scheduled: 7.30pm+
Rankings: Cirstea #33, Hsieh #61
Head-to-Head: Hsieh 1-0 (2017)
The rankings put Cirstea as a favourite here, but Hsieh is a very tricky opponent and looks a bit of value as the slight underdog…
The 32-year-old Hsieh has plenty of smart shots and angles in her game, and what she lacks in power she makes up for in skills. Hsieh beat two big names at the Australian Open in January, Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbine Muguruza, and she can out-smart her Romanian opponent here.
Cirstea can pull off some great winners but she also makes a lot of mistakes. Hsieh has got the better of her before and can do so again this evening.
BET: Su-Wei Hsieh to beat Sorana Cirstea @ Evens
BOOKIES: Evens (2.00) BetVictor, William Hill, Betway, NetBet, 10Bet
STAKE: 1 pt
Latest odds here
Victoria Azarenka v Madison Keys
WTA Miami – Miami Open
Match scheduled: 11.30pm+
Rankings: Azarenka #186, Keys #15
Head-to-Head: n/a
Azarenka is on the comeback. Her ranking slumped below 200 in the world, having not played since Wimbledon last summer until Indian Wells this month. She has a great record in Miami – a multiple winner – and looked good when thrashing the highly-rated teenager CiCi Bellis in the 1st Round.
Despite making the US Open last summer (where we backed her at 16/1), Keys remains a bit of an enigma. Sometimes she just looks like all the confidence and on-court decision-making has been sapped out of her – throwing in the all-too-frequent ‘anti-climax’ performance when big things are expected.
While Azarenka’s patchy form can be excused since she had a baby and has missed a lot of court time, some of Keys’ results are alarming – since the US Open, she’s lost in the 1st Round in three out of five tournaments.
Both these two have power games, but Azarenka has the edge for me on experience and big-match mentality. This could be a classic, but it could also be over very quickly if Keys gets nervous or overwhelmed again.
The bookies make it almost 50-50 but I like Azarenka here. She’s not back to her best yet, but she’s certainly getting better.
BET: Victoria Azarenka to beat Madison Keys @ 5/6
BOOKIES: 5/6 (1.83) BetVictor, Boylesports, 4/5 (1.80) Bet365, SunBets, Betway, NetBet, 10Bet
STAKE: 1 pt
Latest odds here
I’ll be back tomorrow with the latest from Miami.
Enjoy the tennis...
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson