The Rogers Cup tennis tournament arrives at the third round and so do our tennis picks. On Tuesday, we went 2-1 with our tennis picks, making it a somewhat successful day. We did lose with Barbora Strycova, who couldn’t stop Venus Williams. However, we did end up winning with Petra Kvitova, who ousted Andrea Petkovic in straight sets, and we also cashed with Aggie Radwanska, who beat Monica Niculescu in straight sets. Niculescu only won six games in total.
Looking ahead to Wednesday, the field narrows to 16 and features increasingly interesting matchups. There’s no Serena Williams at this 900-point tournament, so a lot of players have a great chance to take home a big prize which will boost their standing in the WTA Tour rankings.
Varvara Lepchenko vs. Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta loves hardcourt tennis. She beat Garbine Muguruza at the U.S. Open 11 months ago. She made the Australian Open semifinals this past January. She struggled on clay in Europe and didn’t go far at Wimbledon either, playing nervously in front of her home-nation crowd in an early-round match against Eugenie Bouchard. Now she’s back on hardcourts, and in her first tournament on the cement after her unsatisfying spring swing, she won the Bank of the West Classic on the campus of Stanford University. Konta could have buckled in her early-round match after making the long journey to Montreal from California, but she stood firm. She is clearly a better player than Lepchenko, and so the easy thing to think is that Konta will roll. However, when players win tournaments one week, fatigue might not immediately catch them the next week. They might get through that first match against a decent but not tremendous player. Playing more matches in that second week can become increasingly difficult for an athlete to physically handle. Konta is probably going to feel her legs and get a little tired as this match goes on. It will probably go three sets. It’s going to be closer than many experts might guess. However, Lepchenko is not strong or consistent enough to take this match away from Konta. It will be a tight one, but Konta will prevail. Take her with your tennis picks.
Pick: Konta in three sets
Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
This is a matchup of defense versus power. Radwanska is great at covering the court. She knows how to angle off shots and read what her opponents are doing. Pavlyuchenkova is a heavy hitter. She can forcefully pound the ball into the corners of the court and force her opponents to scramble desperately to retrieve shots. Pavlyuchenkova made the Wimbledon quarterfinals and has played very good tennis over the past month. She’s not an easy opponent, but Radwanska won the Rogers Cup the last time it came to Montreal in 2014. She feels comfortable here, and she’s probably going to find a way to win on Thursday. She’s the better choice for your tennis picks here.
Pick: Radwanska in three sets
Madison Keys vs. Venus Williams
This is a match which might seem to be a 50-50 proposition. Venus reached the Stanford final this past weekend. She’s been playing great tennis. She is the higher seed – sixth for her, while Keys is tenth. Truth be told, she’s had a pretty rough year up until Wimbledon. She was just 5-3 on clay and had been lousy on the hard courts (up to 11-5 on the hard surface this year). But she went 5-1 on grass, made a nice run at Wimbledon, carried that over to the Stanford final and has looked good at the Rogers Cup so far. She won her first match by a count of 6-3, 6-0 match against Barbora Strycova on Wednesday, which would suggest she’s in prime form. However, Strycova simply imploded in that match. Venus was lobbing in first serves, not hitting them very hard. It seems Venus was tired, but that her opponent was awful. Venus does not seem physically ready to make a run at this tournament. Keys should win comfortably. Take Keys with your tennis picks here.
Pick: Keys in straight sets
