Daily match picks

Third round

Sasnovich (2.24) v Putintseva (1.79)

Due to start at 4 pm

Putintseva has won both their previous matches. They last met in Sydney in January 2016. She won on a hard court in 2 easy sets. Their other match was on clay in 2014.

Their overall win percentages are very even in the last 12 months and also in 2020. Putintseva has better hard court results.

Sasnovich struggled in the opening set in the first round match with Di Lorenzo but started her second round match at 100mph. She was underdog against Vondrousova but lost just 3 games. She reached the second round last year. The last time she won 2 main draw matches on a hard court in the same week was at the 2019 Australian Open. She has held 90% of her service games.

Putintseva has been the strong favourite in both her matches. She has lost a total of 10 games and 5 of those were breaks of serve. She reached the third round in Doha in February and the third round at the Australian Open. She made the third round at last year’s US Open.

I can see this being very tight. There’s a good chance that it goes to 3 sets. We have some value on Sasnovich and if she can serve as well as she did in the last round she has a great chance. Lay Putintseva if she breaks first and remove the liability when Sasnovich breaks back. Lay the set 1 winner.

Update: Sasnovich made the quicker start and took a 4-0 lead. Putintseva got one of the breaks back but Sasnovich broke again to take the set. In set 2 Sasnovich was broken first but immediately broke back. Putintseva broke her another 2 times to level the match. In set 3 Sasnovich held serve in the opening game but Putintseva won the next 6 games.
Putintseva won 3-6, 6-2, 6-1

   

Second round

Sakkari (1.50) v Pera (2.92)

Due to start at 4 pm

Sakkari won their only previous meeting in July 2019. it was at Wimbledon on grass and she won in 2 sets.

Their 12 month overall results are quite even. Sakkari has a small lead in 2020. Hard court results slightly favour Sakkari in the last year and also in 2020.

Sakkari reached the quarter finals at the Cincinnati tournament last week. She beat Serena Williams in 3 sets before losing to Johanna Konta. She made the fourth round at the Australian Open and the third round at last season’s US Open.

Pera has had some decent performances on hard courts this season. She reached the second round in Adelaide as a qualifier. She did the same in Doha in February. This week she had a tough opening set against Zarina Diyas which she won in a tie break but finished the match with a bagel.

I expect the sets to be close today. Back Sakkari around 1.85 to 1.95.

Update: Terrible start from Sakkari. She was quickly 4-0 down. She improved as the second set progressed and their stats were quite even. A late single break gave her a 5-3 lead and she easily served out the set. She broke Pera’s serve twice in the deciding set.
Sakkari won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.