Betting-Previews.com returns with another set of Tennis betting previews and predictions for the 2021 US Open. Here are our Round 3 picks for Garbine Muguruza vs Victoria Azarenka and Elise Mertens vs Ons Jabeur.
Garbine Muguruza vs Victoria Azarenka
When: Friday, September 3 – 12:00 EDT
Where: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York
Weather: Sunny, 21°C
Garbine Muguruza made it past world no.57 Donna Vekic and world no.68 Andrea Petkovic in straight sets to secure a spot in the third round of the 2021 US Open for the first time since 2017 when she crashed out of R4. It also marks her third Grand Slam R3 appearance of the year following the Australian Open (R4) and Wimbledon (R3).
Her next opponent, Victoria Azarenka, defeated no.60 Tereza Martincova and world no.99 Jasmine Paolini in the opening two rounds of the Grand Slam. With that, she got herself one step closer to emulating her success from 2020 when the Belarus tennis star reached the finals in New York.
Muguruza and Azarenka were supposed to meet earlier this year in Doha; however, the match never happened due to Azarenka’s injury. Still, they had met four times before, most recently in September 2020, in Rome, when Muguruza won 2-1. It marked her second victory against Azarenka across their four meetings (2-2).
It’s also fair to mention that two of those four matches didn’t play out entirely, as Azarenka and Muguruza both withdrew once. In completed matches, the two are tied in head-to-head at 1-1.
Azarenka enters this match as the more accomplished player at the US Open, having reached three finals before (2012, 2013, 2020) as well as two quarter-finals (2014,2015); however, that doesn’t mean much if she never won the trophy. Her only Grand Slam victories happened in Australia (2012, 2013), when she was no.1 on the WTA standings.
Azarenka enters this match with a 22-11 record, which is solid enough; however, she hasn’t achieved much in any of the tournaments she has appeared in. The furthers she has gotten was the semi-finals in Berlin.
Muguruza is 34-13 and has done much better than the Bulgarian over the year. She won in Dubai and made two finals. What’s more, Muguruza has shown much more throughout the opening two rounds of play and is the better player in our book.
Prediction: Garbine Muguruza to win – 1.98 at Sportmarket
Elise Mertens vs Ons Jabeur
When: Friday, September 3 – 16:30 EDT
Where: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York
Weather: Sunny, 24°C
Elise Mertens has done reasonably well at the 2021 US Open so far. She has made it past world no.54 Rebecca Peterson with 2-1 and has swept world no.234 Valentini Grammatikopoulou (2-0) on Wednesday to reach R3.
The 25-year-old Belgian entered the US Open after decent showings at the previous three Grand Slams, having reached R4 in Australia and R3 in France and Wimbledon. Although not exactly spectacular results, it’s worth mentioning that the US Open is her best Grand Slam tournament.
Mertens has reached the quarter-finals here in 2019 and 2020, and while she couldn’t make it further, she deserves some slack for it, seeing how she fell against the 2019 champion, Bianca Andreescu (6-3, 2-6, 3-6) and the 2020 finalist Victoria Azarenka (1-6, 0-6).
Ons Jabeur made it to R3 at the 2021 Australian Open, R4 in France, and has recently reached the quarter-finals of the 2021 Wimbledon. With that, US Open remains her least successful Grand Slam tournament, having never made it past R3.
On a more positive note, Jabeur has made it into the third round in both of her last visits. This year, she has managed to emulate that success by beating world no.56 Alize Cornet (2-0) and world no.80 Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (2-0).
Even though Jabeur has done well against her last two opponents, Mertens should prove to be a much more formidable opponent. It’s also fair to mention that Jabeur struggled a bit against Cornet (7-5, 7-5), which isn’t a good look and a sign that she is beatable.
Mertens has had a mixed season, and it’s hard to praise her too much for what she has produced. Nevertheless, the Belgian tennis player is tough to beat and can raise her game on a good day. Mertens is worth a bet at the offered betting odds.
Prediction: Elise Mertens to win – 2.59 at Sportmarket
