Daily match picks

There aren’t many matches that look promising today. This started off as a larger selection. Not all of them appeared on Betfair. Here are a couple that do. If I find any more I will add them.

As they are EXHIBITIONS you’re advised to use reduced stakes.

ATP Eastern European Championship

Krajinovic (1.34) v Djere (3.6)

Due to start around 5 pm

Krajinovic leads their previous matches 4-2. He has won their last 4 meetings. The last 2 were in 2019. He won indoors in Basel in October and on clay in Hamburg in July. Both of Djere’s wins were on clay in 2017.

Overall results strongly favour Krajinovic in the last 12 months. He also leads in 2020 but his lead isn’t so big. They are fairly closely matched on clay. Krajinovic has the higher ROI in 2020.

All Krajinovic’s matches during Covid have been on clay. He survived Djokovic’s Adria Exhibition and actually beat Djokovic that week and also took Thiem and Zverev to 3 sets. He has been unbeaten in his 4 matches since then although his highest ranked opponent was 487th ranked Aldin Setkic.

Djere has also only played on clay during the pandemic. He has played 7 matches. He was very strong pre match favourite in all of them. His only loss was his first during the lockdown against Mirza Basic.

Krajinovic has faced tougher opponents. I have to favour him to win but if Djere can find some motivation his best chances against Krajinovic will always be on a clay court.

Lay Krajinovic if he gets a very early break of serve and remove the liability if Djere breaks back. Back Krajinovic around 1.80 or if he loses set 1.

Coric (2.74) v Dzumhur (1.45)

Due to start around 7 pm

Dzumhur won their only previous meeting. That was in July 2014 in the quarter final of the San Benedetto Challenger in Italy. He won in straight sets.

Overall results in the last 12 months and also in 2020 favour Dzumhur. He also has better clay results this season.

Coric’s only other event during the CoronaVirus was the Djokovic Adria Exhibition. He was not as fortunate as Krajinovic and tested positive for Covid-19. Yesterday he retired early in the match tie break after he and Alexandar Lazarov shared 2 tie break sets.

Dzumhur is another player who has only played on clay during the lockdown. He has played 8 matches and his only loss was to Dominic Thiem when he retired after 2 games.

Coric managed to compete for 2 sets before retiring. If he doesn’t pull out before this match he is likely to want to try to win in straight sets.

Lay Dzumhur if he gets an early break of serve. Back Dzumhur around 1.90 to 2.00.

 

This is played on hard courts. Two normal sets with a match tie break to 10 points if a deciding set is needed.

EXHIBITION = REDUCED STAKES!

Kristyna Pliskova (1.41) v Voegele (3.24)

Due to start at 11 am

Pliskova leads their previous matches 3-1. They last met in September 2019 on a hard court. Pliskova won in straight sets. She won both their hard court matches.

Their results in the last 12 months favour Voegele. Her hard court results are also stronger. Most of her best results were in Challenger or ITF events although she reached the third round in Indian Wells as a qualifier.

Voegele has only played 2 matches during the pandemic. They were on hard courts earlier this month. She won both of them in 3 sets including her last match against Jill Teichmann.

Pliskova has played 9 matches during Covid-19. She has only played 2 matches on hard courts and lost both. She played Strycova yesterday. She had lost their previous 3 meetings. She played well and took an early lead. Strycova broke back and broke again. Pliskova took the set into a tie break that was easily won by Strycova. Strycova took the second set with a single break of serve.

Pliskova should be better prepared for today’s match. Hopefully Voegele can be competitive. Back Pliskova around 1.80 to 1.90. Back Pliskova if she loses set 1.

Vondrousova (1.85) v Swiatek (2.11)

Due to start at 12:30 pm

This will be their first meeting.

Overall results favour Swiatek in the last 12 months and also in 2020. Her hard court results are stronger.

Swiatek would normally be slight favourite today but she had a slight injury yesterday against Martincova. She still won the match in 3 sets so it probably isn’t anything serious. However with the main tour resuming in 2 weeks she may not want to make any small issue worse in a match that means very little.

Vondrousova only held serve twice in her match with Bencic. Her second serve was terrible. She won 8 of 28 points on it.

Lay Vondrousova if she gets the first break of serve. I am going with Swiatek today.

Muchova (1.34) v V. Kuzmova (3.2)

Due to start at 2 pm

Muchova won their only previous meeting. That was on a hard court in August last year. She won in straight sets.

Muchova has better overall results in the last 12 months. She hasn’t made the best start to 2020 winning 8 from 15.

Kuzmova has had some decent performances during the lockdown. On hard courts she has won 2 of her 3 matches. She beat Martincova in 3 sets at the start of July. Her match last week against inexperienced Nikola Bartunkova was much closer than is should have been. She won 6-4, 7-5.

Muchova beat Swiatek a couple of days ago in 3 sets. Back her if she gets broken first or if she loses the first set. I would rather wait for a better price on her than try a lay around 1.20 to 1.25 but that is an option.