tennis | Friday, June 30, 2023 7:54 AM

Friday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Eastbourne, Coco Gauff vs Madison Keys

Jon Reid

Coco Gauff vs Madison Keys Best Bet: Friday, June 30th

Nice win for Iga Swiatek. Despite not looking her best, she still managed to win the match 6-3, 6-2 against Anna Blinkova. It speaks to just how dominant she can be and how tough it is to play against someone with such a strong serve, forehand and athleticism to go with them.

For our final women’s article of the week, we’ll head to the 500 in Eastbourne to preview the match between Coco Gauff and Madison Keys.

In this article:

Coco Gauff vs Madison Keys Preview
Coco Gauff vs Madison Keys Best Bet

Coco Gauff vs Madison Keys Preview

June 30th, 11:00 (UK Time)

What a marquee matchup between two Americans in Eastbourne on Thursday morning!

Gauff – who has been making runs at events on a relatively consistent basis all season – takes on Keys, who has one of the most explosive games on the women’s tour.

This matchup is a fairly close one for me, with Gauff having a big advantage on the backhand wing and in terms of consistency from the baseline, while Keys has the much less vulnerable second serve and a gargantuan edge in any rallies that end up on the forehand wing.

Keys also enters this tilt in really good form. That is something I don’t generally like to get in the way of. When she’s feeling it and finding the range from the baseline, she is an awfully tough player to beat.

She’s also had to go through some incredibly tough competition to reach this point. Tereza Martincova is at her best on quicker courts, with her flat forehand that can generate decent pop, Xiyu Wang is a big-serving lefty that can pose anyone problems on quick courts and Petra Martic has an excellent backhand slice that stays low and a half-decent first serve of her own.

This one feels like it will come down to how many errors Keys hits and how many first serves Gauff can put in play, with her second serve surely vulnerable to being attacked by Keys’ power.

Coco Gauff vs Madison Keys Best Bet

Quicker courts are absolutely perfect for someone like Keys. Between having one of the best serves and most powerful forehands in the game, and points being much shorter so she can minimise the number of unforced errors she hits, there aren’t many women that benefit more from grass season.

Throw in a string of straight-set wins over relatively impressive competition and the aforementioned edge she has from the baseline on the forehand side and her being a substantial underdog doesn’t make sense for me. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a player I wouldn’t bet Keys against on grass at this price.