Kristyna Pliskova – Sara Sorribes Tormo
Prediction: Sara Sorribes Tormo +3.5 games
Odds: 2.04 Pinnacle
A match between two very good tennis players will surely be a pleasure to watch by all tennis fans. Sara Sorribes Tormo won over Madison Keys in 1/32 finals with relative ease (7:5), (6:2). Despite being an underdog, Sorribes showed she can put up great performances, even against one of the world’s best tennis players. On the other side, Kristyna Pliskova won over Natalia Vikhlyantseva in a relatively close match (6:4), (6:4). Now, these two players will meet with each other for the first time after almost 2 years. Their last encounter was back in September of 2016, when Pliskova won 2:1.
Kristyna Pliskova has a lot to prove after falling in the world rankings. She needs to get her confidence back and show what she can do against top players. As of now, she is in an excellent form, so we can expect her to be more than able to play 3 sets. With her speed and strong feed, she is a favourite here, despite her poor back line.
Sara Sorribes Tormo has come back from an injury and despite the fact she had only a few weeks to train, she is showing a great form. It may be due to the fact she is playing in a home tournament so motivation and drive to go as far as possible are there. She may not be as fast as Pliskova but due to her great positioning, Sorribes Tormo does not need to run as much. In addition, she boasts good endurance as well as powerful blow.
Pliskova is a favourite by the bookmakers, and it may seem so on the paper, but in my eyes, Sara Sorribes Tormo is more likely to win this one. Her form is exceptionally good and as mentioned before, the motivation to go a long way in this tournament will help her achieve a good result.
Johanna Konta – Bernarda Pera
Prediction: Pera +2.00 games
Odds: 2.00 Pinnacle
Looking at these two players, Konta is ranked 23 in the world, whereas Pera is at 97th place. Konta and Pera have met twice this year thus far and despite the difference in ranks, Pera managed to win 1 of those matches (0:2) back in January, whereas Konta celebrated the most recent match-up against Pera in Dubai in February (2:0). With that in mind, we can safely say Pera is more than capable of defeating Konta. Johanna Konta started this tournament with a 0:2 win over Rybarikova, on the other side Bernarda Pera defeated Sabalenka in 1/32 finals with scores; 4:6, 6:2, 3:6.
This match will be played on clay, which was never the strong point for Konta, actually, it’s her less successful surface to play on. If we take that into consideration, as well as the fact Pera won over Konta once before, betting on Bernarda Pera at odds of 2.32 is a decent bet to take.
