The Tennis continues on Thursday, although the tournament in Rio de Janeiro looks like it is going to be hit hard by the weather through the remaining few days there.
That is not the case for the WTA Dubai event and the two ATP tournaments in Doha and Los Cabos and the Tennis Picks will be added to this thread.
However, the time zones and the faster than usual nature of the scheduling this week means the markets are taking a little longer to be put together. That is contributing to the need to add selections after the initial thread is posted and that remains the situation.
Rain has meant the entire Second Round of the Rio de Janeiro tournament has been pushed into Thursday and both selections from Wednesday will be completed then. The week update is of every match that has been completed with a full result and that is at the bottom of the thread, while selections from the two tournaments played in the Western part of the world have also been added.
Marketa Vondrousova - 2.5 games v Sorana Cirstea: Some of the bigger names have had a challenging time working their way through to the WTA Dubai Quarter Final and the same could be said for Marketa Vondrousova, the Wimbledon Champion.
Well that certainly could have been said about her Second Round win over Payton Stearns as the Czech player came through a decider, but she was much stronger in the Third Round win on Wednesday.
After a relatively disappointing start to the season, Marketa Vondrousova has to be pleased with the level shown in Dubai through the first couple of matches. It is the return of serve that has been really effective for her and only a slight improvement in the serving numbers will be needed if Vondrousova wants to start stringing some wins together.
She will have to be very much focused on this Quarter Final opponent Sorana Cirstea who continues to enjoy playing some of her best tennis of her career just when it felt like she should be past her prime.
Even a defeat on Thursday will not prevent Sorana Cirstea from heading back to her peak career World Ranking which was achieved eleven years ago, while further successes in Dubai may finally see the Romanian crack the top 20 of the Rankings for the first time.
That has to be the ambition for Sorana Cirstea going forward and she will be happy with her own level in Dubai having won three matches and fighting back from what looked like being a losing effort in her win over Donna Vekic. Over two hours were needed for Sorana Cirstea to win that match and it will be interesting to see if she can recover physically as well as mentally to prepare for this Quarter Final.
It has been a solid start to 2024 for Cirstea and her first serve can be a very strong weapon when operating at its best. However, too many second serves will give Marketa Vondrousova the impetus to take control of rallies and it may give the Wimbledon Champion an opportunity to turn the tables after two closes losses to this opponent over the last eighteen months.
Both were on hard courts so there will be a confidence in Sorana Cirstea when she enters this match, but Marketa Vondrousova may feel she has just missed out when the big points have been played in those defeats and this time she could be playing well enough to turn things around. That will be 'easier' to do if Cirstea is feeling the efforts of her Third Round win and the Czech lefty can be backed to find a way through to the Semi Final.
Iga Swiatek - 5.5 games v Qinwen Zheng: Over the next three months, Iga Swiatek has a lot of World Ranking points to defend, but she has an opportunity to extend the gap to World Number 2 Aryna Sabalenka with a strong end to the tournament in Dubai.
Adding the Miami Masters to her schedule will give Swiatek a bit of room for error, while the World Number 1 remains the player to beat when the clay court events roll around.
Playing through the Middle East has been a very positive time for Iga Swiatek and she reached the Final in Dubai last year having won the title in Doha. She has already defended that title and Iga Swiatek is going to be tough to stop in her bid to win the title here too.
The Australian Open Runner Up may have something to say about that and Qinwen Zheng has looked pretty decent in the last couple of Rounds after an early loss in Doha. There are still some questions for the World Number 7 to answer despite reaching a maiden Grand Slam Final and that is largely down to the lack of top quality opponents that have been beaten so far.
Qinwen Zheng did beat Marketa Vondrousova at the United Cup in January, but after that, the highest Ranked player she has beaten in 2024 is World Number 35 Anastasia Potapova. That win was earned in the Third Round on Wednesday, but it is hard to ignore that Zheng has been well beaten in both matches played against Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek this season and was pretty poor in her loss to Leylah Fernandez last week.
Over the last twelve months, Qinwen Zheng has a 6-8 record against top 20 Ranked opponents and that falls to 3-5 against the top 10. On the face of it that is not too bad, but the likes of Elena Rybakina, Swiatek and Sabalenka are a different proving ground for Qinwen Zheng.
She has lost all five previous matches against Iga Swiatek, including all three played on the hard courts.
Credit has to be given to Qinwen Zheng for the fact she has taken a set from the World Number 1 in two of the three hard court matches, but she has not been able to maintain the level required and all of the defeats have been relatively comfortable by the end of the match.
The first serve will be crucial for Qinwen Zheng, but there is room for improvement behind the second serve and her return of serve and these are areas that Iga Swiatek should exploit.
In the last two hard court matches between the two, Iga Swiatek has really taken hold of the return of serve and something similar in Dubai is likely going to lead to another strong win for the top player on the WTA Tour.
Ugo Humbert - 2.5 games v Gael Monfils: The biggest challenge for Ugo Humbert may be the fact he is facing one of the big names in recent French Tennis history.
However, Ugo Humbert has played Gael Monfils twice before and he has to be feeling very confident having won a title already this month and sitting in the top 20 of the World Rankings.
Gael Monfils is still plenty athletic around the court and he is capable of some big serving, which does make him dangerous.
He has played just about well enough in the first two matches in Doha to reach this Quarter Final, but Monfils is playing on the fine margins and someone like Ugo Humbert is playing well enough to force the veteran on the back foot.
It is much more difficult to keep making the big plays when put under pressure and the feeling is that Ugo Humbert will break down the Gael Monfils game.
This has the potential of being an awkward spread, but Humbert can do enough to move into the Semi Final behind another decent win in 2024.
Sebastian Baez - 2.5 games v Facundo Diaz Acosta: He is playing at a career high World Ranking after winning the title in Buenos Aires so Facundo Diaz Acosta will not be lacking for confidence.
A win over Stan Wawrinka in the First Round in Rio de Janeiro will have furthered that belief in his own tennis, but Diaz Acosta will remember a painful lesson that was dished out by Sebastian Baez just a couple of weeks ago.
This one is expected to be closer, but Baez continues to show he is a confident and solid clay courter and the expectation is that he franks the win he had over Facundo Diaz Acosta in Cordoba.
It is a tough spot for the lower Ranked of the compatriots having played all through last week, and that should give Sebastian Baez the narrow edge to progress with a win and a cover.
Jordan Thompson - 1.5 games v Alex Michelsen: Both of these players have come through for me this week so it is is not easy to oppose either, but the expectation was that Jordan Thompson would be a stronger favourite than he is.
The Australian has continued playing at an extremely solid level when not facing the very top players on the Tour and the last month has been very good to him.
Jordan Thompson will be hoping a little bit of inexperience from Alex Michelsen also perhaps aids him in this match.
Alex Michelsen crushed Alex De Minaur in the Second Round for what may be his biggest Tour win in his career, but backing those up can be difficult the first couple of times around. That will be the challenge for him against someone like Jordan Thompson who is playing with a lot of confidence right now.
I do think the potential in Alex Michelsen is higher than Jordan Thompson has had in his career, but at this moment, the latter is playing well enough to just serve well enough and put enough pressure on his younger opponent to find a way past him into the Los Cabos Semi Final.
MY PICKS: Marketa Vondrousova - 2.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Iga Swiatek - 5.5 Games @ 1.91 Coral (2 Units)
Ugo Humbert - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Sebastian Baez - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Jordan Thompson - 1.5 Games @ 1.95 Coral (2 Units)
Week Update: 14-8, + 8.70 Units (44 Units Staked, + 19.77% Yield)
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