This might not have been exactly the kind of season that Naomi Osaka would have wanted, but she did win another Grand Slam title and made the WTA Finals. Unfortunately Osaka has not been able to conclude her season with a maiden success at the Finals having pulled out of the tournament prior to her second match at the tournament.
Kiki Bertens stepped in to beat Ashleigh Barty in her stead and that does mean that all four players competing in this Group can still earn their place in the final four. Belinda Bencic recovered from dropping the second set to beat Petra Kvitova meaning the top three players all have one win each and the Czech southpaw has lost both matches.
Petra Kvitova will take on Bertens on Thursday and Ashleigh Barty and Belinda Bencic will meet in the other Group match which will determine one of the Semi Finalists.
On Wednesday we have the second set of matches to be played in the Purple Group as the two winners and two losing players from Monday's matches face each other. As was the case on Tuesday, you have to feel that the winner of the Elina Svitolina versus Simona Halep match will be through to the Semi Final while both Bianca Andreescu and Karolina Pliskova are looking to bounce back from losses.
Elina Svitolina v Simona Halep: There has been a similar level of form that both Elina Svitolina and Simona Halep have displayed since the beginning of the US Open. Both players have perhaps not been as dominant as they would like, but both Svitolina and Halep have won their opening Group match which has put them in a strong position to move through to the Semi Final.
There is every chance of the winner of this match moving through to the Semi Final and so I expect to see everything put on the line in this one to avoid the stress of having a must win match later this week.
I have to give Svitolina a slight edge in the match considering the head to head between these two on the hard courts. Simona Halep won a tight match earlier this year in Dubai over Svitolina, but the Ukrainian was a touch unlucky on the day and the numbers between these players do favour Svitolina on the hard courts.
The layers are not finding it easy to separate the players, which is understandable, but I do think Elina Svitolina deserves to be a narrow favourite. Instead you can back her to win this match at odds against and that looks to be the play for me here.
MY PICKS: Elina Svitolina @ 2.00 William Hill (2 Units)
WTA Finals Update: 0-1, - 2 Units (2 Units Staked, - 100% Yield)
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