Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens Cymbiotika San Diego Open: Stephens Looking to Build on a Resurgent 2023 Campaign

Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens (Cymbiotika San Diego Open) Tuesday, September 12th

Tough loss for Sinja Kraus, who looked dejected by the early second set, barely making an effort on some return points. Disappointing from a young player with everything to play for at the 125K level. For our Tuesday preview from the WTA Tour, let’s look at Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens from the Cymbiotika San Diego Open.

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

In this article:

• Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens Expert Tip
• Elise Mertens Recent Form
• Sloane Stephens Recent Form
• Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens H2H Stat of the Match
• Gamble Responsibly

Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens Expert Tip

While I don’t trust Stephens and her poor attitude and motivation on court as a favourite all that much anymore, if you’re going to give me underdog odds against a player who has declined this season and doesn’t have an elite serve or power to trouble the American and exploit her relatively poor footwork, I’ll always have a small punt backing the former U.S. Open champion.

Mertens fits the description of that type of opponent in this instance, so I’ve gone ahead and pulled the trigger.

• Expert Tip: Stephens to win at 2.16 with Pinnacle, using 1/10 stakes.

Read on for more expert insights.

Elise Mertens Recent Form

Outside of a few good tournaments in the early goings of the season, Mertens has struggled away from the grand slams. The success at the slams shouldn’t be all that surprising. She’s incredibly reliable as a player to reach the third round, and part of that has been the fact that she’s been seeded for so many years. That means she hasn’t been able to play another seed – in other words, the best players in the world – prior to the final 32.

She made the second week at the French Open and then the third round in New York (almost beating the eventual champion in Coco Gauff), but other than that, she really struggled for wins.

She ramped up the aggression a bit in some matches at the year’s final slams, but it proved to be somewhat unsustainable and her baseline game simply isn’t what we were used to seeing in previous seasons.

Without consistent, sustained aggressive play, she’s going to find it tough to get through the rock solid Stephens on American soil.

Sloane Stephens Recent Form

It’s been a mixed bag for the 30-year-old during the summer hard court swing. She looked incredibly competitive in a loss to the in-form Marketa Vondrousova and in her victories against Caroline Garcia, Anhelina Kalinina and the upstart Mirra Andreeva. She also looked shockingly poor in a loss to Lauren Davis (where she blew a slew of set points in the opening set) and Sara Sorribes Tormo.

It’s one of the reasons I stake small when backing her and prefer to get underdog odds – which lowers the frequency with which we need her to win in order to profit on said bets. You simply never know when she’s going to give up and go through the motions in a match.

That said, she also has an incredible amount of talent. Her backhand is so sturdy and can be used as a weapon. Her forehand can dial up a sneaky amount of pace. She can defend really well, and her serve is adequate.

The mentality has lacked for a few years now though, and it’s the primary reason she hasn’t been able to climb back up the rankings and beat the best in the game.

Elise Mertens vs Sloane Stephens Head to Head – Stat of the Match

There have been two meetings on hard courts between these two in the past. Not all that impactful though, as they split the two matches, and those were both played in 2018.

I’d make the case that both Stephens and Mertens have taken a step back since then as well, so it’s not like over time, one has pulled away from the other. That case could’ve been made for Mertens a year or two ago, but not in 2023.

I don’t think there’s a whole lot in the head-to-head department that should move the needle on this price all that much.

Odds as at 2:30 am UK Time on September 9th, 2023. Odds may now differ.

RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING

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