Tennis Picks 2026 (Tuesday 3rd February)

The start of the men's Final at the Australian Open would have certainly gotten fans to sit up and take notice and just for a brief moment it felt like Novak Djokovic was going to be on his way to creating history by winning a twenty-fifth Grand Slam title.

Credit has to be given to Carlos Alcaraz for not panicking after seeing almost everything go wrong in the first set and he very quickly took control of the Final.

This time even the multiple Break Points saved by Novak Djokovic were not enough to fend off the pressure created by the World Number 1.

On the day I did write on 'X' that the 4-4 game where Novak Djokovic had a Break Point in the fourth set could have perhaps been the key point and the former World Number 1 mentioned the same moment in the post-match presser. After saving a bunch of Break Points, Djokovic finally found a chance on the Alcaraz serve and breaking there may just have changed the momentum that had built up within the match.

Unlike Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz fought off that pressurised moment and eventually found another chance within the set to avoid having to dig in further.

With seven Grand Slam titles secured, Carlos Alcaraz is going to threaten the numbers that the Big Three created, although there are always going to be new faces ready to enter the Tour and create their own pathway on the Tour.

Right now it feels like the era of the 'Big Two', and Carlos Alcaraz looks to have moved a step ahead of Jannik Sinner- his record in his Grand Slam Finals is incredibly impressive already and the Spaniard is likely going to be set as the favourite at the next two Slams and possibly in New York City too.

We should see some of those big names back in action sooner than later with the Tour moving onto the big Middle East events this month and also having the first of the ATP 500 events being played.

The WTA Tour goes a step further with those same events in the Middle East down as 1000 events and with some of the top names on the entry lists at the time of writing.

Australian Open Champion Elena Rybakina had been on the list to play in Abu Dhabi this week, but it will surprise absolutely nobody that she has decided to skip the week after the brilliant tournament put together in Melbourne.

Four tournaments are being played this week, including the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi, but most of the biggest names are resting and recovering.

As the month progresses, more of those top players will be back in action ahead of the two Masters events coming up in March.

The Australian Open was a successful start to the year for the Tennis Picks, but it is a very long year and can only be considered a solid opening foundation laid.

Emma Navarro - 2.5 games v Hailey Baptiste: Two 24 year old American players meet in Abu Dhabi and neither made much of an impact at the Australian Open, which means there is some pressure to perform during this Middle East swing.

The last several months have been disappointing for Emma Navarro who had entered the top ten in the World Rankings, but is no edging out of the top 20.

She was beaten very early in Melbourne, but Navarro has won all three previous Tour matches against Hailey Baptiste and the latter has not really competed with the top 50 on the hard courts over the last twelve months.

In that time Hailey Baptiste has a 3-7 record in those matches and two of those wins were in Miami.

At her best Baptiste can be dangerous with a powerful game, but Emma Navarro has found a way to just neutralise her threat at key moments and that may be the same again in Abu Dhabi.

Anastasia Potapova - 5.5 games v Lucia Bronzetti: Reaching the Third Round at the Australian Open and given Aryna Sabalenka all she can handle will have given Anastasia Potapova a confidence boost.

However, she is the defending Champion in Cluj and that means there is some pressure to try and defend the World Ranking points with her live Ranking slipping back outside the top 80.

She can put everything into this week with the next tournament set to be Dubai when Anatasia Potapova is going to have to win some Qualifying matches to join the main draw. That is an additional pressure to deal with, but you have to expect Potapova to continue to get the better of this opponent.

All five previous meetings on the Tour have been won by Anastasia Potapova and that includes coming from a set down to beat Lucia Bronzetti in the Final here twelve months ago.

It has been a difficult few months for the Italian player who has dropped out of the top 100 of the World Rankings as the losses have piled up. Lucia Bronzetti was beaten in the final Round of Qualifying at the Australian Open and her serve is the more vulnerable of the two players in this First Round match in Cluj.

Asking Anastasia Potapova to cover this spread is never going to be straightforward, but she should have the Break Point opportunities to edge past the number.

Elena Gabriela Ruse - 4.5 games v Rebeka Masarova: The home favourite is playing an opponent who has failed to come through Qualifying at a couple of events Down Under and who is playing in the main draw for the first time this season.

Rebeka Masarova has dropped out of the top 100 of the World Rankings and she had a mixed year on the hard courts.

The first serve is more of a weapon than some may think, but there is a big drop off when the second serve is needed and Rebeka Masarova has struggled to get her teeth into return games. Last year she did upset Donna Vekic on the surface, but Elena Gabriela Ruse can use the home crowd to get on top of this match.

A strong run would see Elena Gabriela Ruse getting back up towards the top 50 in the World Rankings and this is another player who can get on top of points when the first serve is going in.

The higher Ranked player has had the stronger returning numbers over the last twelve months, while Elena Gabriela Ruse did beat Rebeka Masarova in the Semi Final here in Cluj three years ago.

On that day Elena Gabriela Ruse had the edge on the return of serve and although her overall record here is not the strongest, she was a Finalist in 2023 and the Romanian may have enough to get past this number set for the spread.

MY PICKS: Emma Navarro - 2.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet Fred (1 Unit)

Anastasia Potapova - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 William Hill (1 Unit)

Elena Gabriela Ruse - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 William Hill (1 Unit)

Season 2026: 37-23, + 16.30 Units (126 Units Staked, + 12.94% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2024 (Saturday 10th February)

Another week on the Tour is coming to an end with the six tournaments being played all crowning Champions at the end of the weekend.

The Tour is making its way through the Middle East with a number of stops and that does mean some of the tournaments of next week are beginning on Sunday. The WTA Doha event is the first 1000 event on that Tour, while the ATP Tour has an event in Rotterdam which is the first 500 event of the season, although that will begin on Monday.

What it does mean is that some of the top players on the Tour should be in action and that is underlined in Doha where eighteen of the top 20 WTA players are scheduled to play.

Only Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are going to miss out, but it is a deep tournament beginning on Sunday.

The hope is that there will be a decent foundation on which to build this month when the tournaments of this week come to a conclusion.

It has been a mixed week for the Tennis Picks through to this point, but the hope is a decent end can be produced to end with a positive number as we look to begin the slow ascent out of the Australian Open hole.

Beatriz Haddad Maia - 1.5 games v Daria Kasatkina: The long Second Round match did not have any impact on Beatriz Haddad Maia in her Quarter Final win over Ons Jabeur.

She was helped by an out of sorts opponent, but Beatriz Haddad Maia will be heading into this Semi Final with plenty of confidence.

A match against Daria Kasatkina will always be challenging considering the amount of balls that the World Number 14 will get back into play. However, it has been an extremely mixed start to the season for Kasatkina, even if her best win and performance was in the Quarter Final on Friday when she crushed Sorana Cirstea for the loss of just two games.

Daria Kasatkina has to expect a lot more resistance in this match and she has lost both previous matches against Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Both were on the hard courts in 2023 and all four sets were won by the Brazilian, which will give Haddad Maia a considerable mental edge.

This should be close, but you have to give Beatriz Haddad Maia the edge with her power and serve likely to be key on the faster surfaces.

Daria Kasatkina will have to serve well to keep herself from being put under pressure, but too many second serves will end up being attacked and Beatriz Haddad Maia should have enough to reach the Final in Abu Dhabi.

Grigor Dimitrov - 2.5 games v Karen Khachanov: The disappointing defeat at the Australian Open is the only negative on the Grigor Dimitrov resume in the early part of the 2024 season.

He has won a hard court title and Grigor Dimitrov will feel he should have won his match at the Australian Open when going down to Nuno Borges in an upset.

We have not seen Dimitrov since that defeat, but he has returned in Marseille and has won two matches in strong fashion which will give him confidence. He will know that he needs to serve well to win this Semi Final against Karen Khachanov, especially if the World Number 18 continues to serve as well as he has been in his own two victories at this event.

Both players will feel there is an area of improvement that can be made when it comes to the return of serve, but Dimitrov has the edge in that department.

Wins in all three previous professional matches against Karen Khachanov will certainly help Grigor Dimitrov believe he has the tennis to win this Semi Final. The last of those wins was in Shanghai and Grigor Dimitrov has won six of the seven sets played against the Russian.

In those previous matches, Grigor Dimitrov has a massive edge on the service numbers and he can get the better of Karen Khachanov in this good looking Semi Final in Marseille.

Karolina Pliskova - 3.5 games v Harriet Dart: After coming through the Qualifiers and making a run into the Semi Final in Cluj, Harriet Dart will be back inside the top 100 of the World Rankings when the new list is released on Monday.

This is a positive for a player who has not really pushed on as far as she would have liked, although earning a spot in the Final will be a big challenge for Harriet Dart.

She has taken advantage of what has been a kind draw and only one of the wins has been earned against someone Ranked inside the top 100. That win was against someone Ranked higher than Karolina Pliskova right now, although the Czech player may feel she is on the road back to a more natural place in the World Rankings.

Winning the tournament would see Karolina Pliskova head back towards the top 50 of the World Rankings as injury and a loss of form has seen the World Ranking slump.

Karolina Pliskova has dominated her last two opponents after a tougher than expected First Round win and the confidence has to have grown.

The serve has always been a big weapon for Pliskova and it looks to be working this week, which will give her a chance to contain the threat Harriet Dart brings to the court.

It has been the key difference in their previous two meetings on the Tour, including last year in the Middle East, and the expectation is that Karolina Pliskova will be able to show the tennis that took her to World Number 1 in getting past her British opponent.

Sebastian Baez - 2.5 games v Luciano Darderi: These two players met in the Second Round in Cordoba twelve months ago and both players have improved their World Rankings since that match.

Sebastian Baez is still Ranked considerably higher than Luciano Darderi as they prepare to face off for a spot in the Final, but the home favourite will have plenty of respect for a Qualifier who has won a lot of matches to get to this stage of the tournament.

Being the defending Champion and having won two matches here will show that Sebastian Baez is very comfortable in his surroundings.

However, he will have to respect Luciano Darderi who has beaten consecutive top 60 Ranked opponents without dropping a set. Both Sebastian Ofner and Yannick Hanfmann are not Ranked as high as Baez, but they are solid wins for the 21 year old Italian who is edging closer to a first appearance in the top 100 of the World Rankings.

Like many from his home nation, Darderi is a comfortable clay court player and he has been playing at a really high level this week. It makes him dangerous, but Sebastian Baez is no slouch on the red dirt and he was a straight-forward winner when these two players met last year.

This match should be closer, but Sebastian Baez can still earn a win and a cover.

MY PICKS: Beatriz Haddad Maia - 1.5 Games @ 1.90 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Grigor Dimitrov - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (2 Units)

Karolina Pliskova - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)

Sebastian Baez - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet Victor (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 7-6, - 0.76 Units (26 Units Staked, - 2.92% Yield)