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Horse Racing Today's Miami Open Best Bet: March 23rd
WTA Miami Open: Fruhvirtova vs Kovinic Best Bet
Wednesday, March 23rd, 15:00 (UK Time)
The first round of the ATP main draw gets underway on Day 3 of the Miami Open. However, I have again chosen to focus on the WTA Round 1 matches, and specifically a tie involving one of the youngest players in the Women’s draw.
At just 16 years of age, Linda Fruhvirtova is making her first appearance in the main draw of a WTA 1000 event. Previously, she has only featured in the qualifying rounds for such events, losing at the first stage in Miami last year, as well as in Indian Wells last week.
Fruhvirtova, currently ranked 279th in the world, mainly resides on the ITF tour and has only played a handful of main tour tournaments during her short career. The young Czech has made the most of these limited opportunities to showcase her potential, reaching the quarter-finals in Charleston (April 2021) and Seoul (December 2021).
On Wednesday, she will face the experienced 27-year-old Danka Kovinic, who has delivered some impressive results so far this year. None more so than last week, where Kovinic defeated Jil Teichmann and 7th seed Karolina Pliskova in reaching the third round at Indian Wells, highlighting what an underrated and dangerous player she can be.
Although it was Pliskova’s first match since November 2021, Kovinic was able to win 46% of the points on return and, in turn, create 16 break point opportunities – no mean feat against one of the biggest serves in the Women’s game.
Considering the quality of Kovinic’s recent performances and results, I was very surprised to see many bookmakers pricing the match with Fruhvirtova close to evens. Admittedly, the Czech is a bit of an unknown quantity, but I’m not sure she will have enough to defeat an opponent playing at the top of her game.
- Selection: Kovinic to Win
- Best Odds: 1.90 (Bet365)
- Stakes: 10/10
Odds as at 09:00 am March 23rd 2022. Odds may now differ
