tennis | Thursday, April 27, 2023 7:52 AM (Revised at: Thursday, April 27, 2023 7:53 AM)

Thursday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Madrid, Karolina Muchova vs Irina Begu

Jon Reid

Karolina Muchova vs Irina Begu Best Bet: Thursday, April 27th

No bet on Wednesday, as Emma Raducanu’s health struggles continue. She ended up withdrawing Wednesday morning, voiding the bet on her to beat Viktoriya Tomova. With that, the former U.S. Open champion is almost certain to drop out of the world’s top 100 in the next set of rankings.

For Thursday, let’s delve into the match between Karolina Muchova and Irina Begu.

In this article:

Karolina Muchova vs Irina Begu Preview
Karolina Muchova vs Irina Begu Best Bet

Karolina Muchova vs Irina Begu Preview

April 27th, 16:00 (UK Time)

It was an incredible start to Madrid for Muchova, who continues her quest to rebuild her ranking to her career high of 19.

She demolished the struggling Anett Kontaveit in straight sets, and now sets her sights on Begu.

It’s been an impressive start to 2023 for the Czech, who appears to be relatively healthy for the first time in quite a while. She’s withdrawn from one event to date but looked good during the March Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami.

She was able to reach the quarterfinals in California, losing only to the eventual champion Elena Rybakina in three sets, despite being the much better player in the opening two.

In Miami, she was sent packing by Sorana Cirstea, who had a Cinderella run to the semifinal.

It’s no surprise either. Muchova possesses a very strong first serve, big groundstrokes, a sneaky and effective drop shot, can hit slices effectively and can cover the court as well.

Should she find a way to stay healthy, one could make the case that she has a top-5 or top-10 game on the women’s tour.

Begu is also a clay courter but simply doesn’t have the variety, nor the raw firepower of Muchova.

Simply put, it’s taken really good players, or players with weapons from the baseline playing at a peak level to beat the 26-year-old native of Olomouc in 2023.

With the matchup advantage and Begu’s lack of the requisite tools to pull off the upset, I’m happy to back Muchova in this one.

Karolina Muchova vs Irina Begu Best Bet

A few reasons I’m fine with giving up a four-game head start to Begu in this one.

For starters, her primary strength (her serve) is neutralised by Muchova doing the same thing but in an even more effective manner.

Then we have the fact that Muchova just has a much more well-rounded game, has a much higher ceiling and is more talented.

Finally, Begu had a decent tournament in Charleston (where she’s found success a few times in the past as well), but her overall form in 2023 is pretty poor and she’s frequently dropped sets by lopsided scorelines to her opponents.

That comes in handy when trying to cover a higher number like -4 in this spot.