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Ice-hockey Wednesday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Indian Wells, Aryna Sabalenka vs Coco Gauff
Aryna Sabalenka vs Coco Gauff Best Bet: Wednesday, March 15th
Another loss on the women’s side with Jessica Pegula on Tuesday means the cold start to the week continues.
Wednesday we’ll look to snap that, as the quarterfinals get underway from Indian Wells. Let’s delve into the match between Aryna Sabalenka and American Coco Gauff.
In this article:
Aryna Sabalenka vs Coco Gauff Preview
March 15th, 20:00 (UK Time)
Sabalenka’s red-hot 2023 season has continued at Indian Wells, with the Australian Open champion crushing Evgeniya Rodina, before receiving a walkover in the third round and exacting revenge on Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round for her loss in Dubai.
The world No. 2 profiles absolutely perfectly against a player like Gauff, who makes the most of her game, but really struggles against the elite players on the WTA Tour, because her weaknesses are rather glaring ones.
Her forehand in particular is far from what one would expect based on her ranking, and those with a strong forehand tend to control rallies and give her fits.
We just saw that in the round of 16, where Rebecca Peterson – an in-form Swede with a big forehand that is finally finding a nice run of health – pushed her to the brink of defeat.
Enter the Belarussian, who is on fire, and has one of the biggest serve and forehand combinations in the women’s game.
Her leaps forward this year have come primarily because of her added consistency and reduction in her double fault rate. While she’s far from being what I’d call a consistent player, her game is certainly less erratic, and that’s made her that much tougher to play against.
Aryna Sabalenka vs Coco Gauff Best Bet
With Gauff’s weapons being her first serve and backhand, while her forehand is a glaring weakness, Sabalenka should like her prospects here.
Her first serve is one of the few that can keep up or eclipse the young American’s, and the advantage she possesses in forehand exchanges should be enough on their own to have Sabalenka a much larger favourite.
Then there’s the issue of form, where Sabalenka is on another level and performance against other top players, where Gauff has a win against Elena Rybakina this year, and not much else in the way of strong victories.
The fact that Gauff leads this head-to-head series 3-1 is probably what is keeping this price point close. As I mentioned before, however, the 2023 iteration of Sabalenka is a different beast. She donates far fewer points to her opponents and that makes the head-to-head record between these two less relevant in my books.
- Selection: Sabalenka to win
- Best Odds: 1.61 (Bet365)
- Stakes: 6/10
Odds as at 4:00 am on March 15th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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