Tennis Picks 2018 (February 24th)

The last two weeks have been very, very good for the Tennis Picks and that run continued on Friday with four winners from the five completed matches.

Not to sound greedy, but it could easily have been a clean sweep after Garbine Muguruza twice led in the second set by a break, served for the match and missed match points in the tie-breaker before going down in three sets to Daria Kasatkina.

All three picks made from Delray Beach came back as winners though to keep the winners coming and it definitely feels good knowing that I wasn't going mad with the research for the Tennis Picks earlier this season.

It is a long season though with twists and turns and I just have to look for the positives to last longer than the negatives to ensure a winning season can be put into the books.


Elina Svitolina - 4.5 games v Daria Kasatkina: I might have had a very strong week, but a couple of my losing picks have been opposing Daria Kasatkina, although I am a sucker for punishment and will her oppose her in the Dubai Final too.

To be fair to me, Kasatkina was a set and a break down against Johanna Konta before turning that match around and then saved multiple match points in the second set of her eventual three set win over Garbine Muguruza in the Semi Final.

Now she will have to dig deep again to beat someone like Elina Svitolina who has been producing a higher level of tennis so far this week. Svitolina hasn't really had a lot of ups and downs either with her return being very effective in her three wins, while she has been good enough behind serve.

There is perhaps more to come from the serve, but it does feel like Svitolina will be able to create plenty of break point opportunities against the Kasatkina serve. The latter has had difficulty protecting that side of things and has been very much reliant on a strong return of her own, but she is not playing as well as Svitolina on the raw numbers.

Kasatkina is still dangerous as she will be playing with the confidence of recovering difficult positions already this week. However I think Svitolina's stronger serve and better return numbers will pay off and she can win the Dubai Final with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline to retain the title she won last year.

MY PICKS: Elina Svitolina - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 22-7, + 25.28 Units (58 Units Staked, + 43.59% Yield)