WTA tennis ................all the main hard court events covered by clubgowi
Mar 26, 2021
You can see the first seven clubgwoi previews from the Miami Open tennis below, the final one of which is still "active".
Stephens (pictured) and Kudermetova won. Konta and Kerber did so in straight sets and Kucova took world number 1 Ash Barty all the way and to the brink of defeat.
We have previewed four tennis matches today and six events in total in the newsletter.
Miami Open: WTA
Very slow start and just one match to discuss today and that is Oceane Dodin- Sloane Stephens.
Dodin is a journeywoman player, she broke into the top 50 in the world for a few brief weeks in the summer of 2017 , but has spent most of her career ranked 100+ and is currently #120. She lost in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open, despite being the second seed and even dropping down to ITF-level yielded just two wins across three tournaments . However, she did win two matches to come through qualifying here, beating Mirjam Bjorklund (#313 never ranked higher than 299) and fifth seed Tamara Zidansek. Dodin is 3-16 lifetime on hard courts versus top 50 ranked opponents and two of those wins came early in her career, she has lost 15 of the last 16.
Sloane has once again fallen on very hard times and is finding winning hard, but she is super talented and we almost always see her at her best on US soil and she is very comfortable here in Miami , where it can not only get very hot, but also windy. I spoke about all this when she WON this event in 2018, beating three former world number 1's in the process ...........
Stephens has posted two good subsequent wins here in Miami and is up to 19-2 on US soil in the last 12 months which is incredible and I can find some other stats too to give SS a chance today. She likes a big target and is 6-4 in the last six years against top 10 players who are 1.83m+ tall, including winning the last four, all on hard courts and each in two sets ( Pliskova, Venus and Kvitova twice). She is also 12-5 in Miami when her own ranking is top 100. Stephens is a Florida girl, born , raised and still lives (50 minutes from these courts) in the Greater Miami Area and very used to the weather and conditions here.
Sloane is class and close to unplayable on her day, but is injury prone and can go walkabout at times and play poorly for months on end and she has lost all four singles matches she has played so far in 2021. But class is permanent , she won her US Open when her ranking was higher than it is currently and she has looked positive enough on her social media pages and when she does turn it around, it is most likely to be in the US and she is 19-10 in Miami and within that 12-2 versus players ranked 51+ .
I usually make the case that we can never consider backing SS at low odds, but similarly, she should never be 2.50 + to beat an inferior player on courts she loves and as played at more than virtually anybody else, at a tournament where she was champion the time before last (not played in 2020) and where she can sleep in her own bed.
A return here could kick start something and she did also celebrate her 28th birthday on Saturday and that can often be a time for reflection, or to push the reset button and this is a player who can find form out of nowhere. In early August 2017 she was ranked #957 in the world, a month later she had made the semi finals in Toronto and Cincinnati , won a slam, had beaten five world #1's and was ranked top 20 !
If she plays like she has done in 2021 she will probably lose today, but she will turn it around sometime soon and this is as good a place as any and at these odds I think we have to chance a little.
1.5 units Sloane Stephens to beat Oceane Dodin 2.57 Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
Linette- Konta
Kerber- Zarazua
Wang- Vondrousova
Kudermetova- Collins
Barty-Kucera
Johanna Konta absolutely loves US hard courts , they are where she feels most comfortable and she won this event in 2017 (she was close to unplayable on these types of courts that year) . Konta is 12-3 in Miami and her three defeats came against two former world number 1's and the other when the British player was at a very low career point. Konta is 39-21 lifetime on the surface versus players ranked 21-50 (Linette is 50). Magda is 1-19 over her career versus players ranked top 20, she was simply gifted the sole win by the way , 17 of those losses came in two sets and she won six games or less in 16 ! Linette has also lost her last five on hard courts to those ranked 21-50 and in the same manner, all in two sets and winning no more than six games ! It is not all good news, we have seen little of Konta in 2021 and most of it has been poor, but this is just as much about Linette and her apparent inferiority complex in these kind of matches. Looking at her social media timeline it seems that Konta has been in Miami for some time and given herself the best possible chance to prepare and contend.
I have no doubts we have seen the best of Angelique Kerber and she is in the twilight of a glittering career, but it feels like a big edge in class today. Her Mexican opponent Renata Zarazua is close to her peak ever rate at #147 and has only ever played six top 50 ranked opponents and lost five of those. Kerber is a former world number one and she is 15-2 in Premier events versus players ranked 100+ when her own ranking is top 50 and in Miami, she is 18-10 in the main draw and an eye-catching 9-0 versus opponents ranked outside the top 50.
Marketa Vondrousova is very talented , but is 15-15 in matches versus opponents ranked 21-50, so doesn't immediately leap out as value today. Qiang Wang has a strong record against top 20 players ( Vondrousova is on the cusp @ #20) winning 12 of her last 19 and all on hard courts, including six wins over world number 1's (Barty, Serena, Pliskova) . She has grown in confidence in these kind of match ups and whilst she has not played much in the last 12 months, the last time she was in Miami she made the final 8 where she lost a close QF to Simona Halep and the return here will have very positive memories for her. Vondrousova has never played in Miami and whilst it should suit, the conditions we discussed yesterday that you often get here, are not to everybody's taste.
I have no issues with Danielle Rose Collins as favourite, but she is capable of the odd "no show" and has not been able to break into the top 20 which she seemed sure to do at one stage and she is 9-14 in match ups like today (versus players ranked 21-50). Veronika Kudermetova has made very steady improvement over her career and despite being the younger player by more than three years, is ranked higher and is 16-12 versus that same 21-50 group which they both fall into. I have to be fair and say that DRC took a different and slower route into tennis (which we have discussed multiple times) but she does seem to have stalled a little. I see this as closer to a coin flip.
There is a huge gulf in class between #1 Ash Barty and #149 Kristina Kucova and that gets the stating the obvious comment out of the way for today ! But Kucova can raise her game and she has won three of her last five matches versus top 20 opponents and is battle hardened after winning three matches here in Miami (two in qualifying). This is a massive step up of course, however, when we saw Barty at the Australian Open she went walkabout and lost a match to Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 that she seemed certain to win for the loss of 2-3 games at most, I think it is the biggest ever turnaround I have seen from and against a #1 player. Barty has played one tournament since and lost in her first round . That must give some encouragement to Kucova and Barty has not travelled much at all, she has not been in the US since September 2019 , or indeed outside Australia or Asia in that time, all things considered, it just feels like a big handicap to give up.
1.75 units Johanna Konta to win 2-0 sets 2.32 Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
1.5 units Angelique Kereber to win 2-0 sets 2.25 Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
1.5 units Qiang Wang to beat Marketa Vondrousova 2.63 Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
1.5 units Veronika Kudermetova to beat 2.82 Danielle Rose Collins Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
1.5 units Kristina Kucova +6.5 games 2.09 Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
Kaia Kanepi- Elena Rybakina
A few brief comments about the four games today. Kaia Kanepi will be 36 years old in two months time, her best year on Tour was 2012 , she appears to be having a resurgence at present and has good 2021 numbers , but she still has a losing record against top 50 opponents over the last 12 months and is a career 89-138 in that category (v top 50), so quite how she is favourite today is a little hard for me to fathom even on those numbers alone. Elena Rybakina is 14 years younger and ranked #23 in the world ( 41 places higher than the veteran Estonian), she has spent the last 12 months ranked 17-23, so no doubting she is of that level and she is a lifetime 132-53 and 87-35 on hard courts versus players ranked outside the top 50. When her own ranking is top 50, she is 25-5 on the surface against those 51+, 29-5 on all surfaces.
1.75 units Elena Rybakina to beat Kaia Kanepi 2.20 Pinnacle/Sportmarket Pro.
Good luck !
We don't just sell football betting tips, as you can see there is an extensive analysis behind our asian handicap selections. Subscribing to our sports betting advice service need not break the bank. Learn more by visiting our subscriptions page.
Sport: