Konta vs. Bertens
Playing on Hard Court brings the best out of Johanna Konta. In addition to her phenomenal 82.61% winning record on this surface in 2017, all of Konta’s three titles on the WTA Tour have come on the Hard Courts. Despite her disappointing defeat against Ekaterina Makarova at the Rogers Cup, the 26-year-old Brit played at a very good level but failed to convert two match points on that match.
At the age of 25, Kiki Bertens is going through a great moment in her career. After winning her 4th career title at the Ladies Championship in Gstaad, the Dutch is trying to extend the good results in North-America. Nevertheless, Bertens is far from a Hard Court expert with a terrible 4 – 12 record on this surface over the last 12 months. Looking now at Kiki’s campaign on this event, the world no.27 reaches this stage of the competition after a 6 – 3 6 – 0 win over Oceane Dodin.
This will be the 3rd career meeting between these two players with each of them winning one of their previous two encounters.
Despite Bertens’ easy victory in the previous round, Dodin was absolutely terrible with only 6 winners and 26 unforced errors. On the other hand, Johanna can never be underestimated on this surface. With this in mind, Konta is the clear favourite to win this match at 11/25 at Pinnacle while Bertens is available at 2/1 at Bet365. For those who want to take a higher risk, Johanna’s -1.5 Set Handicap at 111/100 at Pinnacle is also a great approach for this contest.
Best Play: Johanna Konta -1.5 Set Handicap at 111/100 at Pinnacle
Stephens vs. Safarova
After sitting out 11 months with a foot injury, Sloane Stephens staged an outstanding comeback run in Toronto. Against all expectations, the former world no.11 reached the Rogers Cup semi-finals after defeating world class players such as Petra Kvitova or Angelique Kerber. Nevertheless, it won’t be easy for Sloane to perform at the same level in Cincinnati after so many months away from competition.
The 2015 French Open runner-up – Lucie Safarova – continues to pursue her first title in 2017. Known as one of the most dangerous players on the WTA Tour, the 30-year-old Czech possesses one of the best forehands in the game. Despite Lucie’s disappointing defeat against Stephens last week in Toronto after missing three match points, the former world no.5 is slowly returning to her best level.
These two players will face each other for the 4th time in their careers with Safarova leading on the h2h by 2 – 1.
Despite Sloane’s recent win over this opponent in Toronto, Safarova was definitely the better player on that contest. On the other hand, the fast court conditions in Cincinnati should benefit Lucie on this match. Having said that, the value is on the Czech’s side at 91/100 at William Hill while Pinnacle offers 49/50 for Stephens’ victory.
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