The WTA Dubai 1000 event is starting on Sunday and the three ATP Finals from the tournaments that began last week are to be played on the day too.
Picks from the three Finals will be placed here when the markets are released, but the sole selection from Dubai can be read below.
Caroline Garcia - 1.5 games v Ashlyn Krueger: After a decent showing at the United Cup in preparation for the Australian Open, Caroline Garcia might have been hoping to have had more positive results behind her as we get into the big tournament in Dubai.
It has not worked out nearly as well as that and the former World Number 4 has been beaten in four of her last five matches, while Caroline Garcia has suffered early defeats in both Abu Dhabi and Doha ahead of this WTA 1000 event.
To be fair to the Frenchwoman, she has had a couple of tough matches to deal with and her last three defeats have been by very tight margins.
The First Round draw in Dubai offers Caroline Garcia a good opportunity to at least snap her losing run in this match against Ashlyn Krueger, the 19 year old American who has yet to break into the top 70 of the World Rankings.
Ashlyn Krueger has struggled to really make an impact against the stronger players on the WTA Tour as she tries to make her tennis work at this level. One positive for Krueger is that she has put a number of wins together in Abu Dhabi and Doha, albeit in the Qualifying Rounds, which will at least give her a bit of belief on the court.
However, the record over the last twelve months against top 50 Ranked players on the hard courts has been very disappointing for Ashlyn Krueger and shows the kind of gap she will still need to bridge in this match.
In that time span, Ashlyn Krueger has a 1-8 record against top 50 Ranked opponents on the surface and her second serve has been really vulnerable. It has been tough for her to recover in those matches with the return not being as effective as the American would like and there is no doubt that Caroline Garcia can be a very good server when feeling at her best.
On current form it is hard to know if we are going to see that, but Caroline Garcia should still be good enough to find her way through to the Second Round at this big tournament.
Jannik Sinner - 4.5 games v Alex De Minaur: The Final in Rotterdam looks a good one for the fans, but it is hard to oppose the Australian Open Champion.
Jannik Sinner has played well here this week and this is a player looking to rack up the World Ranking points as he bids to challenge for the top spot at the end of the year. Winning one Slam puts him well on the way, but winning titles at the ATP 500 and 1000 level will back up those performances in the majors and the Italian is looking in imperious form.
Take nothing away from Alex De Minaur's run to the Final and the very positive start he has had to 2024, but this has been a bad match up for him.
On a faster court, it is going to be very difficult for De Minaur to impact a serve against which he has only managed to find a break in 10% of return games in their six match previous head to head. In the hard court head to head, that number drops further and it will mean the Australian faces a lot of pressure on his own serve.
Again, take nothing away from how Alex De Minaur has been playing this week.
However, the serve was challenged by Andrey Rublev and David Goffin, while Jannik Sinner has really found a way to neutralise those return points and wear down De Minaur.
Jannik Sinner has broken in 23% of return games played in Rotterdam this week, but his numbers against Alex De Minaur have been at 38% in previous hard court matches. That can show up here as Sinner takes home another title in 2024 and continues to show that he is certainly up alongside Carlos Alcaraz as a potential multiple time Grand Slam Champion to take over from the Big Three era.
MY PICKS: Caroline Garcia - 1.5 Games @ 1.91 Coral (2 Units)
Jannik Sinner - 4.5 Games @ 2.20 Coral (2 Units)
Weekly Update: 9-9, - 2.40 Units (36 Units Staked, - 6.67% Yield)
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