WTA DUBAI
PERA (1.54) V KALININA (2.62)
I am happy to lay Pera here at her current price, while she is. A player I like. She is not one to take a short price about as she is not the most consistent, I will look to relay if she hits 1.20 or below during the first set and will look to exit around the 1.90/2.00 mark if she starts slow
VOEGELE (2.46) V JOROVIC (1.60)
Backing Voegele here from the start, she is a good player who seems very prone to confidence gaps in her game, if she is on form then she is an accomplished player with a wonderful touch around the net. Jorovic will stay at the back of the court and look to hit winners to back up her big serve but I am happy to go against her here and look to lay Voegele around 1.70.
WTA BRISBANE
TOMLJANOVIC TO BEAT SINIAKOVA @ 2.33
TOMLJANOVIC V SINIAKOVA TO FEATURE A TIE BREAK IN THE MATCH 3.75
Siniakova leads the head to head winning in three sets last year, two sets featured a tie-break and in these fast conditions I think it is set up for serve to dominate and can see another tie break featuring here. Tomljanovic has the better and more aggressive return game and this will be key here with I suspect the few chances that will arise to break serve in this match also she appears to be mentally stronger than Siniakova who can sometimes let the match situation get to her.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
TOMLJANOVIC 61.7% 45.5%
SINIAKOVA 63.8% 40.2%
WTA SHENZEN
PARMENTIER TO BEAT CIRSTEA @ 2.17
Head to head is tied 2-2, Parmentier was quite impressive in her first round match here and although Cirtsea is the better player she is very unpredictable and I cannot have her at odds on against a consistent opponent.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
PARMENTIER 54.4% 25.6%
CIRSTEA 59.8% 32.6%
OSTAPENKO TO BEAT NICULESCU @ 2.0
Niculescu leads the head to head 1-0, Ostapenko hits the ball flat and hard and although she had a disappointing season last year she could overpower Niculescu here if she is on her game and make her odds look very generous.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
OSTAPENKO 54% 37.5%
NICULESCU 62% 51.9%
JOROVIC TO BEAT ZVONAREVA @ 2.38
Zvonareva leads the head to head 1-0, Bepa is my favourite player and so pleased to see her back on the tour but she is vulnerable here against a player playing with confidence and who will put her serve under extreme pressure with her aggressive return game.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
JOROVIC 66.7% 43.5%
ZVONAREVA 62.1% 41.9%
WTA BRISBANE
VEKIC TO BEAT RYBRIAKOVA @ 1.75
Vekic leads the head to head 2-1, She finished the season strongly in comparison to Rybriakova who did not win a competitive match after New Haven in August resulting in 5 straight first-round losses. I have to take Vekic here as last season she looked like she was coming back into form and if she carries that on then she could still become the player we thought she would become when she burst onto the scene.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
VEKIC 64.8% 38.3%
RYBRIAKOVA 61.2% 30.3%
MERTENS TO BEAT BERTENS @ 1.91
Mertens leads the head to head 2-0, Bertens had a magnificent season last year and managed to transfer her clay court form onto hard courts which surprised me, I still feel she looks a little vulnerable on hard courts and against Mertens here I think that vulnerability could be exposed as she has won both their head to head meetings on hard courts and while Bertens has improved I just think Mertens will prove too strong here with her recent matches in Hawaii proving the advantage.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
MERTENS 68.8% 40.8%
BERTENS 68.4% 44.2%
KONTA TO BEAT STEPHENS @ 2.30
Konta had a disappointing year last year but she will be looking to bounce back here and I fancy her strongly to beat Stephens who can be a little erratic outside of the Grand Slams to say the least, Konta’s serve is still one of the best of the circuit and providing that is working well then Stephens could struggle to make inroads here.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
KONTA 73.6% 34.7%
STEPHENS 68% 45.5%
BUZARNESCU TO BEAT TSURENKO @ 1.73
Buzarnescu leads the head to head 2-0, Buzarnescu had a great season last year and will be looking at continuing playing with the confidence she displayed, Tsurenko as always has fitness doubts and while she is a class player I just fancy Buzarnescu flat hitting to come through here.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
BUZARNESCU 65.3% 39.8%
TSURENKO 64.1% 47.4%
WTA AUCKLAND
PANOVA TO BEAT ESPINOSA @ 2.38
Espinosa is not at home on hard courts as she is a real clay court specialist, Panova has a good serve and I can see Espinosa struggling to make inroads with her return game and equally Espinosa lacks the power on these courts and Panova could hit through her here.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
PANOVA 71.3% 28.7%
ESPINOSA 61.3% 29.6%
WTA SHENZEN
HIBINO TO BEAT NICULESCU @ 2.20
Niculescu won their only meeting in a third set tie-break, both won their matches impressively yesterday. Their respective hard court win-loss records are Niculescu 19-14 compared to Hibino 33-22, I have to oppose Niculescu here as she has lost 5 of her last 6 matches she has been favourite in and Hibino will provide a stern test for her tonight.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
HIBINO 66% 40.8%
NICULESCU 61.7% 51.2%
KALININA TO BEAT JOROVIC @ 2.63
Kalinina won their only meeting back in 2014 in a tight three-set match but I don’t feel that will have much bearing on this contest as it was over 4 years ago,I just believe she is the better player of the two and although it will be close to being getting these odds on a match that I believe is almost a coin toss then it is tremendous value.
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
KALININA 63.8% 47.9%
JOROVIC 66.7% 38.9%
KUDERMETOVA TO BEAT BLINKOVA @ 2.50
Kudermetova leads the head to head 1-0, stats are almost identical so similar to the above match the prices of these two should be far closer than this so I am happy to take Kudermetova here at value odds
HOLD SERVE BREAK SERVE
Kudermetova 62.8% 44.8%
Blinkova 62% 41.4%
