Tauson, Yastremska and Mboko were among the casualties in the top half of the draw but it was smooth sailing for the likes of Andreeva, Rybakina Pegula and Raducanu. Top seed and defending champ Aryna Sabalenka wasn’t at her best but we can expect to see improvement from her throughout the fortnight.
Their only other meeting came in the very first tournament of this season – the Brisbane International. Potapova went through the qualifiers and all the way to the final where she won the opening set against Sabalenka. Unfortunately, she has almost forgotten how to play tennis since with a dozen first round losses. She was handed a path into the second round here after Parrizas Diaz was forced to retire at 2-2 in the first set and will be getting no favours from Sabalenka here. The top seed was slow out of the gates in her first match but it will be all guns blazing in this one.
Bet: Sabalenka -7.5 ($2.15)
Going to but my hand up and admit to getting it wrong with respect to Andreeva. She was flawless in a 6-0 6-1 win over Parks and did not give the crowd a chance to play their part. Outside of her dominance returning serve, she won 90% of her 2nd serve points which is unheard of at this level. Potapova needed three sets to get through her match but 10 double faults in that win is a massive concern. Additionally, Andreeva holds a 2-0 record in this matchup with both of those contests coming in 2023 when Andreeva was still only 16 years old. Two years on she is a more complete player and based on what we saw against Parks, she is physically ready.
Bet: Andreeva -5.5 ($1.91)
Making a high percentage of first serves (73%) worked wonders for Blinkova against Starodoubtseva but has not been a winning formula for her in the past against Pegula. The American holds a 4-1 advantage in the H2H including a dominant 6-2 6-2 win in their most recent meetings. A feature of their battles has been breaks of serve with the last 10 sets they have contested all producing no more than 9 total games. Blinkova is not playing well enough to win a set so the Unders shapes as one of the best bets of the day.
Bet: Under 19.5 games ($1.83)
Will want to keep a close eye on this match as Valentova is a name we will be hearing more of. She won the girls singles and doubles at the French Open last year and made the final here in 2023. Of more interest are her two recent Challenger Tour finals in June/July and the fact that she came through the qualifiers without dropping a set to make the main draw. Had 34 winners to Bronzetti’s 9 in the first round and that style of aggressive tennis is beneficial in this matchup. Rybakina makes light work of opponents who look to make balls back as it allows her to take up a central position and crush balls through the court. Valentova has the ability to take time away from Rybakina so we will be backing the Overs.
Bet: Over 20.5 games ($1.91)
Sabalenka v Kudermetova: Sabalenka -7.5 ($2.15)
Potapova v Andreeva: Andreeva -5.5 ($1.91)
Pegula v Blinkova: Under 19.5 games ($1.83)
Rybakina v Valentova: Over 20.5 games ($1.91)
Jacquemot v Fernandez: Sets Fernandez 2-0 ($1.73)
Mertens v Sun: Under 20.5 games ($1.85)
Bucsa v Eala: Eala WIN ($1.67)
Raducanu v Tjen: Sets Raducanu 2-1 ($4.00)
Kessler v Vondrousova: Kessler +3.5 ($1.83)
Jovic v Paolini: Paolini -4.5 ($2.00)
Azarenka v Pavlyuchenkova: Pavlyuchenkova WIN ($1.78)
Samsonova v Hon: Samsonova -5.5 ($2.00)
Li v Bencic: Li To Win A Set – YES ($1.83)
Navarro v McNally: Navarro WIN ($1.67)
Uchijima v Krejcikova: Over 19.5 games ($1.80)
Ostapenko v Townsend: Ostapenko WIN ($1.73)