Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova Open BLS de Limoges Expert Tip: Could a Big Upset Be In the Cards?

Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova (Open BLS de Limoges): Thursday, December 14th

Persistence paid off, as Elsa Jacquemot did manage to beat Arantxa Rus, who assumed the role of aggressor and tried to flatten out her groundstrokes, which led to a slew of unforced errors.

For Thursday, it’s a bit of a riskier position I’m going to take at the Open BLS de Limoges, but it’s one I’m confident is mispriced. For our penultimate WTA preview of the 2023 tennis season, let’s take a look at Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova.

For more daily tennis tips, visit the bettingexpert community, but if you want more expert tips from Jon Reid, visit our Expert Insights section.

• Expert Tips: Abduraimova +1.5 sets & Abduraimova to win
• Best Odds: 2.50 & 5.00
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 2/10 & 1/10

In this article:

• Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova Expert Tip
• Anna Blinkova Recent Form
• Nigina Abduraimova Recent Form
• Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova H2H Stat of the Match
• Safer Gambling

Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova Expert Tip

While these two have both had their struggles of late (at different levels, to be sure), I’m not sure that on a relatively quick indoor hard court there’s this much of a difference between the two.

I would obviously agree with the fact that Blinkova should be favoured entering this contest, but to make the case Abduraimova, on her preferred surface, has just a 20% chance to pull off the upset is a tad too far for me.

• Expert Tips: Abduraimova +1.5 sets & Abduraimova to win
• Best Odds: 2.50 & 5.00
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 2/10 & 1/10

Odds as at 3:45 am UK Time on December 14th, 2023. Odds may now differ.

Anna Blinkova Recent Form

I’ve counted myself as a fan of Blinkova’s game for a while, but her form has been concerning this year. Her most successful tournaments this season came the weeks prior to grand slams (Hobart before the Australian Open, Strasbourg before the French Open and Bad Homburg before Wimbledon) or after many on tour had hung their racquets up for the year (Hong Kong).

That’s not to say she’s the better player in this matchup, as I do think she possesses more power from the baseline and has the better serve, but the unforced errors have crept back into her game this year, which was always what held her back from breaking through in the first place.

Some of her losses on hard courts since Wimbledon definitely came against some strong players, but there were also defeats to players like American prospect Clervie Ngounoue (by a seven-game margin, no less), clay courter Linda Fruhvirtova, Jodie Burrage, Xiaodi You and a nine-game loss to Lin Zhu (who is solid, but that margin of defeat is concerning).

The second serve can be vulnerable at times and the fitness and stamina are also concerns if Abduraimova can prolong points and drag this one to a third and deciding set.

Nigina Abduraimova Recent Form

Similar to Blinkova, the Uzbek has had her fair share of struggles during the 2023 campaign.

Heck, despite being a hard-court player by nature, she had more titles and quarterfinal runs this season on the clay.

That said, she has found a bit of success lately on hard courts, reaching the semis in Dubai at what is usually one of the bigger ITF tournaments of the season (though in recent years with the advent of the late-season 125K events, that field has been a bit weaker than years past).

The week before that in Slovakia, she managed another quarterfinal run at a decent ITF tournament as well.

It does feel as though the form is returning for Abduraimova, who looked the better player against Susan Bandecchi in the opening round as well, before the Swiss retired down a set and a break.

I’d classify her actual game on court as “middle of the road” with the ability to win points on her own here and there, but I certainly wouldn’t make the case she has overwhelming power or the ability to just hit her opponent off the court.

I also don’t think she should be referred to as purely a defender who needs to lean on opposition errors to get through matches.

Anna Blinkova vs Nigina Abduraimova H2H – Stat of the Match

The only time these two played each other was eight years ago at this very event. Blinkova won that match in three sets as a teenager and it’s obvious that she’s progressed far more since then.

I won’t try and make a case that Abduraimova is the better player or likely to win this than Blinkova. It’s more that I believe with Blinkova’s form of late, some of the recent losses on hard courts and her sometimes-erratic game mean that she shouldn’t be valued at 80% of higher to come away with the victory.

SAFER GAMBLING

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more than we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.