Tennis Betting Advice - October 2020

Ones to Watch in Antwerp and Ostrava…

Tuesday 20th October 2020

In your Ones to Watch email today:

  • ATP Antwerp…
  • WTA Ostrava…
  • Play starts 11am…

Ekaterina Alexandrova had a bit of a gut-wrencher on Monday morning. We identified the Russian at 25/1 as potential value at the indoor event in the Czech Republic. The odds very nearly tilted in our favour for a run this week – but not quite…

Despite serving for the match v Anett Kontaveit at 5-2, at 5-4, and again at 6-5 in the final set. Then having two match points at 6-4 in the deciding tiebreaker. Alexandrova just couldn’t get over the line. To be honest, she got the yips. It was a match decided by errors. Kontaveit moves on and is a short odds-on favourite to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo tomorrow for a place in the quarter finals.

  • Our other WTA Ostrava pick, Jennifer Brady (12/1+), plays in the 1st round today. The bookies have the American as an 8/13 (1.62) favourite to beat the aggressive but still room-for-improvement Dayana Yastremska

12/1 and 22/1 picks for today…

We’re adding one more pick to our Ostrava book today. Play starts from 11am and the Outright Winner markets will go down for the day then, so let’s keep it brief this morning:

Elena Rybakina is one of the form women on the WTA Tour this year. Like Andrey Rublev – who won ATP St Petersburg last week at 7/1 – Rybakina has reached multiple finals in 2020, and won a stack of matches, while not quite making the big breakthrough at Grand Slam level.

Remarkably, Rybakina has made five finals this season – from eight WTA tournaments entered. That includes a runner-up appearance on indoor hard courts in St Petersburg in February, where we were on the Russian-born Kazakh at 25/1 Each Way.

Her career match win-loss record indoors is a very impressive 74%. That’s a sit up and take notice statistic.

I had Rybakina in my notes for this week on Sunday, but the early prices at around 7/1 put me off a little. Now that the market has settled somewhat, the odds have drifted a little with 12/1 and 10/1 available – and that’s good enough for me here. Rybakina is in the winning habit this season.

Over in the men’s event in Antwerp, Belgium, at the European Open – Dan Evans’ odds have also drifted since the tissue prices appeared on Sunday evening…

As I’ve said once or twice this year, I feel Dan Evans isn’t far off winning a first title on the ATP Tour. He got a first final under his belt last season (runner-up in Delray Beach on outdoor hard courts). And impressed when winning the unofficial ‘Battle of the Brits’ indoors this summer after lockdown.

Evans has cracked the Top 50 – currently ranked no.35 – and has the potential to go higher in the next twelve months or so. It might be strange to use the word ‘potential’ about a 30-year-old, but Dan has been a late bloomer at this level of the game.

He has the skills to cause many opponents plenty of problems, and a 1st round match this morning against a player best known for clay-court prowess, 27-year-old Salvatore Caruso, gives Dan a good opportunity to progress. After that, a tough but winnable match-up against Frances Tiafoe would await. Those two have had some good matches in recent years, including a victory for Evans during his Delray Beach run last year.

Evans was around 14/1 in the initial Antwerp prices this week. He’s available in places at 22/1 and 20/1 this morning. Those odds tick the box for me.

Ones to Watch:

Outright Winner picks – Each Way

WTA Ostrava:

  • Elena Rybakina is 12/1 with Bet365, BetVictor, 10/1 Skybet, William Hill, Betway, NetBet, 10Bet

ATP Antwerp:

Each Way terms: 1/2 odds 1-2 places.

I’ll be back later in the week with an update.

Enjoy the tennis…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch