I've had a few weeks off from making the Tennis Picks as I tend to do once the US Open is completed, but there is a big run of tournaments over the next six weeks which will culminate with the conclusion of the season and the first running of the new look Davis Cup.
At the end of this month the WTA Finals are going to be played and then in mid-November we have the ATP Finals which are played in London for just two more editions of the tournament that will conclude a thirteen year stay at the O2 Arena before moving to Turin.
Since the last of the Tennis Picks at the US Open, Andy Murray is not only back in action, but has won his first Masters match since Madrid in 2017.
It is great to see Murray back on the Tour and also winning matches as he looks to make the retirement videos offered by the Australian Open back in January seem as premature as he thought they were when they were being played. Andy Murray is almost certainly going to be playing in Melbourne in January as long as he can get through the off-season and the next few weeks feeling as he has been and I do think Murray is going to find his way back into the top 20 within a few months if he can work his way back to full health. That might be underselling him somewhat with the chance of Murray returning to the top ten looking good with some of the performances he has found over the last few weeks.
The 2019 season has been a very strong one for the Tennis Picks even if the last couple of months have not been as positive as the majority of the season. Finishing up with a winning record at the US Open at least pushed the numbers back in the direction I would have wanted, but hopefully some momentum behind the selections in the next few weeks can put an exclamation point on 2019 which has followed up a solid 2018.
The WTA Finals are played this week and we are into the second round robin of Group matches. Also this week we have the Paris Masters as the battle for the year end Number 1 spot on the ATP Tour heats up ahead of the ATP Finals being played in London which begins in a little under two weeks time.
I have some selections from the matches to be played which can be read below. I have also updated the 2019 totals for the Tennis season.
Naomi Osaka v Ashleigh Barty: Three of the first four matches played at the WTA Finals have ended in three sets including both played in this Group. Naomi Osaka just about edged out Petra Kvitova and Ashleigh Barty came from behind to beat Belinda Bencic which means the winner in this match can go a long way to securing a spot in the Semi Final this week.
Neither will be taking that win for granted and I anticipate another close match between these two players having seen that in Beijing when Osaka came from a set down to beat the Australian World Number 1.
That wins should give Osaka a mental edge in the match and I do think she is a worthy favourite to win this one. She has been looking like she is close to her best tennis since the US Open and the win over Kvitova was the eleventh in a row during which time Osaka has won two more titles.
Ashleigh Barty has been in good form too, but she has just found herself coming up short at the business end of tournaments. That includes the defeat mentioned to Osaka and I do think the superior returning that Osaka has been displaying will prove to be a key for her to come out on top in the contest.
Returning serve against Barty has not seen Naomi Osaka at her best so I would not be surprised if she needs three sets to get this done. However while Osaka has won 38% of return points played against Barty in their two previous hard court matches, her serve is the bigger weapon of the two players and I think that will be the outcome of this one too.
Simply backing Osaka to win looks the play here.
MY PICKS: Naomi Osaka @ 1.80 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Petra Kvitova - 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Season 2019: + 97.43 Units (1615 Units Staked, + 6.03% Yield)
No comments:
Post a Comment