Today we have the rain delayed WTA final and they start the indoor hard court event.
As always…..EXHIBITION = REDUCED STAKES
ATP (Indoor Hard)
Sinner (2.06) v Khachanov (1.86)
Due to star at 10:30 am
This will be their first meeting.
Sinner has better overall results in the last 12 months. His best results were in Challenger tournaments. He also has stronger indoor results.
Khachanov has played just 3 matches on clay during the pandemic. Sinner’s only matches were this week on grass.
We have some value on Sinner today as he should be slight favourite. Lay Khachanov around 1.60 to 1.65 and remove liability around 2.20. Back Sinner if he loses set 1.
Update: By the time the match started Sinner was in fact slight market favourite. Both players started well on serve but Sinner won the break of serve in game 4 and that was enough to give him the set. Khachanov had very little pressure on the Sinner serve in that set.
In the second set Khachanov had 3 break points but was unable to take one. The set went into a tie break which Sinner won.
Sinner won 6-3, 7-6.
WTA (Indoor hard)
This is the final of the grass event that was delayed by rain.
Svitolina (3.25) v Kvitova (1.43)
Due to start at 12:00
Kvitova leads their previous matches 7-2. Their most recent meeting was indoors in Singapore in October 2018 and Svitolina won in straight sets. All their other matches were on hard courts. Only 1 of their matches went to a third set.
Overall results are quite even in the last 12 months. Kvitova doesn’t have a great record indoors. She has won 2 of her last 10. Svitolina has had a lot more success on indoor courts. She won the year end finals in 2018 and reached the final again in 2019.
Svitolina played better than expected earlier this week on grass. She will be happier that the final has been moved indoors.
Kvitova has also played well on grass this week beating Petkovic and Bertens in straight sets.
This should be a more even match than it would have been on grass. Lay Kvitova around 1.30 and remove liability around 1.65. Lay the set 1 winner.
Update: It was a bit of a scrappy opening set with 5 breaks of serve in the first 6 games. Kvitova took that set after Svitolina took an early lead.
In set 2 Svitolina’s serve improved. She broke the Kvitova serve twice to take the set easily.
In the deciding match tie break Svitolina raced to a 5-2 lead and closed out the tie break 10-5.
Svitolina won 3-6, 6-1, 10-5
ATP (Indoor hard)
Struff (1.14) v Haas (6)
This will be their first meeting.
Struff played well in the grass event earlier this week taking Bautista Agut to the 3rd set match tie break.
Tommy Haas’ last indoor match was in October 2015. Struff hasn’t had a huge amount of success indoors. He has reached a few quarter finals and even a semi final in 2017.
Struff has served well recently and Haas won’t get too many chances to break. Haas played at a higher level than expected in his 3 set loss to Sinner earlier this week. Struff has more experience than Sinner and I expect him to be too consistent for Haas.
Struff’s price of 1.14 is a little insulting to the retired Haas and it is worth laying Struff around 1.10 and removing liability at 1.20 to 1.25.
WTA (Indoor hard)
Vecic (3.55) v Petkovic (1.12)
Due to start at 3:30 pm
At first I thought they had misspelled Vekic. Unfortunately they hadn’t. Vecic is ranked 1268. I think she was there to be a ball girl and someone dropped out. Her last win was in August 2018.
Petkovic reached the semi finals indoors in Linz in October. She played well against Kvitova on grass earlier this week.
It is hard to see this being competitive. You can try a small lay at 1.10 and remove liability around 1.20.
WTA (Indoor hard)
Sevastova (2.74) v Bertens (1.40)
Due to start at 5 pm
Bertens leads their previous matches 2-1. All their matches were on clay in Madrid. Bertens won in 2019 and 2018. Sevastova won in 2017. All matches ended in 2 sets.
They were due to meet yesterday in the 3rd place play off for the grass event but it was cancelled.
Overall results in the last 12 months and also in 2020 strongly favour Bertens. She has won 12 of 16 in 2020. Sevastova won 2 of 9.
Bertens has a significantly stronger record indoors. She has won 11 of her 15 indoor matches in the last year. Sevastova won 2 of her 4 matches.
Sevastova has played well on grass this week. Bertens lost against Kvitova. It was her first match during the pandemic. We need Bertens to start slowly. Back her after she gets broken or if she loses set 1.
