The Prague Open tennis tournament continues with the second round and so do our tennis picks. We had a very productive day on Wednesday as we went 3-0 with our tennis picks. We had Karolina Pliskova, who rolled over Katerina Siniakova rather easily. Siniakova won just six games. We also had Barbora Strycova to take care of business and she did just that, beating Jana Cepelova in straight sets. The first set was a close one as she won 7-6 but then Cepelova folded in the second set, losing 6-1. As for our third pick, we had Sam Stosur to beat Marketa Vondrousova and she didn’t have much of a challenge. She won the match 6-3, 6-4.
On Thursday, we’ll see players are trying to gain momentum on tour and put together a steady clay season which will flow through the month of May, providing an upward trajectory by the time the French Open arrives.
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Monica Puig
Betting Odds: Kuznetsova -179
Kuznetsova had to work very hard to win her previous match against Madison Brengle, playing from behind on the scoreboard before prevailing in three sets. It’s very easy and logical to say that Kuznetsova will be tired in this match, and will therefore find it hard to outlast Puig. However, the other school of thought in a tournament when a player has a long match one day and then has to come back the next day is that the player in question will be more focused, not wanting to play another three-setter.
This is where this match remains very tricky to predict. Kuznetsova has often been the kind of player who runs out of steam early in tournaments and doesn’t manage to string together long sequences of victories. She has had short bursts of brilliance, but over the course of a calendar year, she’s normally unable to reach semifinals or finals of tournaments. She’ll offer a little glimpse of how good she can be, but if her opponent displays toughness, she will back down and commit a bunch of errors, unwilling to be patient with her defense and her point construction. For this reason, Kuznetsova could be picked against, and quite reasonably.
However, Kuznetsova is showing signs of having a noticeably better season in 2016. She made the final of the Miami Open before losing to Victoria Azarenka, one of the top three players on tour. She is not too far removed from that tournament (three and a half weeks), so if you’re going to lean one way in this match, Kuznetsova is probably the better choice, in spite of her history. Puig is also not the kind of opponent whose track record suggests she’ll be able to pull off the upset, so take her with your tennis picks.
Pick: Kuznetsova in straight sets
Su-Wei Hsieh vs. Lucie Safarova
Betting Odds: Safarova -526
This is a matchup in which Safarova, the number two seed playing in her home country, should definitely be the favorite. The only point of concern is that Safarova has not had a very good year. She has not been able to go deep in a lot of tournaments. However, she made the French Open final last year and is reasonably comfortable on clay. It remains very hard to pick against her in this match. She’s the natural betting choice in spite of her stop-start 2016 season, one which she hopes to improve upon this week.
Pick: Safarova in three sets
Samantha Stosur vs. Barbora Strycova
Betting Odds: Strycova -115
This is a match which could be a tremendous battle. Stosur and Strycova both hit very hard groundstrokes and can play with enormous power. The key in any Stosur match, though, is how well Stosur holds herself together. If the Australian can display a lot of composure, she can beat anyone on tour. Ultimately, though, she normally doesn’t, especially against players skilled enough to make it harder for her to win points quickly and efficiently. Strycova is that kind of player, so she should have the advantage here.
Pick: Strycova in three sets
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