It was a shame that Anett Kontaveit was not able to finish her match against Shelby Rogers when it looked like the Tennis Picks were going to have a clean sweep of winners on Wednesday.
The tournament in Abu Dhabi is where the focus will be again for the Picks as the Second Round is completed in the sole 500 event of the week.
Now the numbers are in a positive place for the week, I am looking for a strong final four days in a bid to keep the winning momentum going.
Beatriz Haddad Maia - 2.5 games v Yulia Putintseva: The top of the WTA Tour is open enough for a number of players to really believe they can win a Grand Slam title in the coming years.
Without a dominant Champion, anyone playing on the Tour can get hot enough over a two week spell and run through a draw and there have been a number of surprising Champions crowned in recent years. Having that in mind, there is little doubt that Beatriz Haddad Maia will have been massively disappointed with her First Round upset loss at the Australian Open and especially when you consider the improvements the Brazilian has made on the Tour over the last eighteen months.
She did need three sets to win her First Round match in Abu Dhabi, but Beatriz Haddad Maia will feel better for the victory having lost her last two matches on the Tour. The lefty had a decent January before the loss in Melbourne and her game continues to operate effectively on the hard courts.
My numbers had her down as a stronger favourite than the layers when she is set to meet Yulia Putintseva in the Second Round on Thursday, although I have a healthy respect for the capabilities of the lower Ranked player. While not being in possession of any great shot, Putintseva can get around the court and test players and their ability to find the big shots consistently, while the return is a strength of her tennis.
It needs to be with a vulnerable serve and Yulia Putintseva deserves more respect having won three matches in Abu Dhabi having fought through the Qualifiers. The win over Bianca Andreescu in the First Round is a good one, but it has been tougher going in the early part of 2023 when Yulia Putintseva has been pitting against top 100 Ranked opponents.
Yulia Putintseva has suffered particular hardship when facing top 20 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months and she has found her second serve and return game has not been able to stand up against the best players on the Tour. The Kazakhstani player has lost two matches to those top 20 players just last month and both were in pretty routine fashion.
Beatriz Haddad Maia can serve effectively with the lefty side making things tougher for the return player and I do think she will be able to get on top of enough return games to win this match and cover the handicap line set.
Elena Rybakina - 3.5 games v Karolina Pliskova: It will be interesting to see how Elena Rybakina handles the disappointment of coming within one match of becoming a multiple time Grand Slam Champion. At least the Kazakhstan Number 1 has earned her rightful place within the top 10 of the World Rankings and Elena Rybakina would be considerably higher if her Wimbledon Ranking points had not been scrapped by the WTA Tour.
She makes her return in Abu Dhabi where some of the top players on the Tour have come together to try and win a big title in what is a couple of big months of hard court tennis. The performance in Melbourne shows that Elena Rybakina is a threat at every Grand Slam that will be played, even on the clay courts where some would feel her power is perhaps not as effective as on the faster surfaces.
Elena Rybakina has shown she is a player that can deal with the moment effectively and I do think the time off would have done her good.
However, she will also be under a different pressure which comes with the increased expectations that her run in Melbourne would have generated. Despite being the Wimbledon Champion, Rybakina has not been under the same spotlight as she may experience now and the first match following the Australian Open is not an easy one.
Karolina Pliskova did not have the best 2022 with injury and inconsistent form and her own hopes of winning a Grand Slam title may have faded, but the Czech player did reach the Australian Open Quarter Final last month. A strong win in the First Round in Abu Dhabi shows she has turned the page from Melbourne and Karolina Pliskova has plenty of power and a solid serve that can put opponents under pressure.
A problem has been trying to get more out of her return and I do think that is where Elena Rybakina will hold a significant edge over Karolina Pliskova in this big Second Round match.
My feeling is that Karolina Pliskova is not the force she once was and it is hard to ignore the fact that she has lost her last four hard court matches against top 20 Ranked opponents. Those four losses have all been in relatively straight-forward manner, including both played last month when Karolina Pliskova really struggled on the serve and only managed to win 36% of return points played.
I think that could show up in this Second Round match once Elena Rybakina gets herself comfortable on the court- the first set should be competitive, but the Wimbledon Champion has the capability to build pressure with her own serve and aggressive returns can pay off the longer the match goes.
It was the case when these two met in October on the hard courts of Guadalajara as Elena Rybakina used a first set tie-breaker win to move through the second set relatively comfortably. She won 41% of return points played compared with Karolina Pliskova's 32% mark on that day and I will look for the top ten Ranked player to come through with a good win in this Second Round match in Abu Dhabi.
MY PICKS: Beatriz Haddad Maia - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)
Elena Rybakina - 3.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Daria Kasatkina - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Weekly Update: 3-2, + 0.70 Units (10 Units Staked, + 7% Yield)
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