Taylor Townsend will have the New York crowd on her side when she takes on Paula Badosa in the second round of the US Open and the American will be the underdog against the Spaniard on Wednesday. 

This Section 5 clash in the lower bracket has Badosa as the 26-seed, and the line setters are putting heavy chalk on the former World’s #2 with an inflated -270 to get past Townsend.

The American is facing an uphill battle and EJ Garr’s Taylor Townsend vs Paula Badosa prediction revolves around a play on the favorite with odds at -115. 

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Taylor Townsend vs Paula Badosa Prediction: The 2024 Spanish-American Battle in NY

• Prediction: Paula Badosa -3.5 Games Handicap 
• Best Odds: -115
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 3/10

Odds updated at 7:00 am UK Time on August 28, 2024. 

Luckily this won’t be a 2-month battle in 1898 otherwise we’d be talking about a different battle between Spaniards and Americans, HA! For now, we’ll get a favored Spaniard looking more like her former self when there was a #2 attached to her ranking.

Taylor Townsend has jumped to 48th in the WTA Rankings due to a nice run of results since returning to North America. Townsend used the Lucky Loser role to reach the quarterfinals in Toronto and then reeled off a 4 – 0 run in Cincinnati.

The American is 3 – 8 in second-round affairs at Major Tournaments, but Paula Badosa has yet to get out of this stage of the US Open in two attempts. Something has to give because one of them is getting through to the third round and Paula Badosa will be the name slotted into the third-round slot.

The line on Badosa opened at -240 and has moved to -270 but the spread has settled in nicely at -3.5 with a fair -115 on the action. I am not one to play favorites very often, but this could be a repeat of the 2024 Australian Open. Badosa cleaned the floor with Townsend in the first Major of the season, 6 – 1, 6 – 3.

Paula is playing like her old self every week gaining confidence in her game again, and I have to ride the Spaniard to the bank and the -3.5 spread goes on the board.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND RECENT FORM

Taylor Townsend was 1 – 1 in DC and won four of six matches in Toronto after picking up the Lucky Loser. Townsend reached the quarters in Canada and eventually fell to Emma Navarro in straights.

Taylor won a pair of 3-set affairs in Cincinnati but ran into a hot Jess Pegula to end that event although she faced some adversity with 90th-ranked Martina Trevisan in the opening round in New York getting pushed to 7 – 5 in the second frame.

Townsend is 20 – 11 on hardcourts this season and it’s the only reason she has a positive record in 2024 (2 – 4 clay, 0 – 3 grass).

PAULA BADOSA RECENT FORM

Paula Badosa is blessed to be playing tennis and we all know it. The back injury sustained put her career in jeopardy right when it was all gold and glitter for the former World’s  #2.

Badosa will potentially face Barbora Krejcikova in the third round should they both progress today in New York.

Paula returned to the States after the loss to Donna Vekic at Wimbledon knowing she was not playing in the Olympics so it gave her nearly a month off between outings.

After smashing her way through the DC field en route to her first title since Sydney in 2022, Badosa is 11 – 2 since entering North America and has a 16 – 8 record on hardcourts this campaign.

TOWNSEND VS BADOSA H2H –  STAT OF THE MATCH

Paula Badosa smacked around Taylor Townsend at the Australian Open in January, 6 – 1, 6 – 3. That information will come in handy when facing a southpaw who will have the crowd behind her in New York today.

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