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Horse Racing Wednesday Tennis Best Bet: WTA 125K Contrexeville, Arantxa Rus vs Erika Andreeva
Arantxa Rus vs Erika Andreeva Best Bet: Wednesday, July 12th
A three-set loss for Jessica Pegula to Marketa Vondrousova in what was an eminently winnable match for her to reach her first ever grand slam semifinal. One has to wonder if there’s a mental block forming for her at this point when she reaches the fourth round or quarterfinal of the biggest events on the calendar.
Much like the men’s article, with matches becoming fewer and further between from the All England Club, the value on the board for the women’s matches comes more at the lower levels, where we have a pair of WTA 125K tournaments taking place this week.
For our Wednesday selection, we’ll go to the one in Contrexeville, France to preview the match between Arantxa Rus and Erika Andreeva.
In this article:
Arantxa Rus vs Erika Andreeva Preview
Wed, July 12th, 14:30 (UK Time)
Another year, another win streak for Rus at some lower-level events on the red clay. Since the French Open, the world No. 86 has managed to string together 11 wins on the trot on the surface.
She won a 125K event in La Bisbal, Spain, before taking down a W40 tournament in Haag on home soil in the Netherlands.
The 32-year-old has a perfect game for clay. As a lefty, she has that ability to create angles that can drive right-handed players crazy with her forehand. She has a lot of topspin on her shot, which plays well on the dirt. Finally, she constructs points well and she can play a relatively consistent game from the baseline.
As for Andreeva, she’s probably a bit more comfortable on hard courts, and unlike her younger sister Mirra, she simply hasn’t really developed her game beyond an almost-purely defensive style that relies on errors from her opposition to find wins.
She’s also struggled against top-100 opponents on clay over the course of the last year, posting just a 2-4 record, with many lopsided sets going against her in the four losses to boot.
Arantxa Rus vs Erika Andreeva Best Bet
Whether it’s the quality discrepancy, surface advantage or the fact that Andreeva tends to lose some rather lopsided sets on the dirt, I’m happy to oppose her here with a strong clay courter who has typically fared very well when she’s dropped down from main tour play.
The elder of the Andreeva sisters simply doesn’t have enough to her game to be a relatively slight underdog in this matchup.
I make this a four-game handicap and will back Rus at three games.
- Selection: Rus -3 Games
- Best Odds: 1.98 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 4/10
Odds as at 5:00 am UK Time on July 12th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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