Tennis Betting Advice - September 2020
WTA Rome – Ones to Watch at 22/1 & 33/1…
Monday 14th September 2020
In your Ones to Watch email today:
WTA Rome – Ones to Watch at 22/1 & 33/1…
We’re having to work round the timings with the tennis this week. Hence the late-night email, followed by the early start…
I’ve spent this evening waiting for the first day’s play to end in Rome, so the bookies would put their Outright Winner markets back up. Then, we have a ‘window of opportunity’ to get our bets down, before play begins again on Tuesday morning, at 10am (UK time).
Without further ado…
100/1 shots are 100/1 for a reason. I flagged up three of them on Sunday night. One man has made it through to the 2nd round at ATP Rome for us – Casper Ruud posting a good 2-1 win over the higher-ranked Karen Khachanov.
We’re moving on the women’s event for our next picks. These are two players that I like very much right now…
Anett Kontaveit, age 24, is starting to show real consistency. She’s always had the power. Now it looks like she has the game to challenge for titles, too.
The Estonian has just one WTA title to her name so far, achieved on grass in the Netherlands back in 2017. She really should be able to significantly increase that tally in the next five years or so.
Having started like a train after lockdown, reaching the Palermo final on clay for us as a 12/1 shot. Then winning three matches in a row at the Western & Southern Open, then the same again at the US Open (both events played on the New York hard courts). World no.21 Kontaveit is knocking on the door for another final sooner rather than later. She reached the semi finals here in Rome back in 2018.
Seeded 14th, in the bottom half of the 2020 draw, Anett avoids top seed Simona Halep, who she can’t meet until the final.
In Kontaveit’s half, names like Kiki Bertens, Belinda Bencic, two-time Rome winner Elina Svitolina, and reigning champion Karolina Pliskova, are all shorter in the betting. Kontaveit has played more tennis since lockdown than all of them. That match sharpness could prove significant this week.
On the flipside to that logic, Elise Mertens has won more matches than any other woman on the tour in 2020, and made the US Open quarter finals last week. At some point soon, the Belgian might run out of steam – especially with the shift to clay, which Mertens didn’t seem too confident about in her recent interview.
At 20/1+, Kontaveit is One to Watch this week. She plays her first match on Tuesday. As does our other selection…
Iga Swiatek is fast becoming a regular in this column. The 19-year-old from Poland is a player I’ve heaped plenty of praise on already this year. Swiatek featured on our Ones to Watch in 2020 list at the start of the season. And back in the first week of July, we got the teenager in the book as an early-bird pick for the French Open.
Swiatek has impressed on every occasion that I’ve watched her play. She hits the ball with real depth and power, and crucially, looks to have a winning head on her shoulders. She’s got a tennis brain, as well as the power and physical strength that the modern game demands.
She also appears to fear no-one on a tennis court. That’s the hunger of youth that we like to see…
A first WTA title is on the cards. It’s just a matter of time. The career formbook says clay is Iga’s best surface. We’re already on her for the clay-court Grand Slam in Paris, which is coming up at the end of the month.
We can’t let this event pass without following the teenager, too. Odds of 33/1 and 25/1 appeal in this field, and with the circumstances in mind. Swiatek is in the bottom half of the Rome draw, along with Kontaveit.
Ones to Watch:
Outright Winner picks – Each Way
Each Way terms: 1/2 odds 1-2 places.
I’ll be back during the week with updates from Rome.
All the matches are being shown on Amazon Prime Video.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson