Daily match picks

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.

 

Second round

Bellis (2.98) v Brady (1.50)

Due to start around 5:30 pm

Bellis won their only previous meeting. That was in January 2018 in Sydney. She won in 2 very tight sets.

Overall results favour Brady in the last 12 months and also in 2020. She also has the lead on hard courts.

Bellis lost the first set in the last round as a 1.07 favourite. Korpatsch took the set in a tie break. Bellis easily won the deciding set. She reached the second round in the Cincinnati tournament last week as a qualifier. She lost in 3 sets to Aryna Sabalenka. She had made the quarter finals in Lexington. She got to the third round at the Australian Open in January where she beat Karolina Muchova and lost to Elise Mertens in 3 sets.

Brady won the title in Lexington 3 weeks ago. She reached the semi finals in Dubai as a qualifier in February. She beat Muguruza, Vondrousova and Svitolina that week. She also made the quarter finals in Brisbane in January as a qualifier beating Barty and Sharapova. She reached the fourth round of the US Open in 2017 but lost in the opening rounds as favourite in 2018 and 2019. She had a comfortable straight sets win over Anna Blinkova in the first round.

Bellis should be competitive but I have to go with Brady. Back her around 2.00 to 2.10. Lay the set 1 winner