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Tennis | Friday, January 20, 2023 9:37 AM

Friday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Australian Open, Marketa Vondrousova vs Linda Fruhvirtova

Friday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Australian Open, Marketa Vondrousova vs Linda Fruhvirtova
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Marketa Vondrousova vs Linda Fruhvirtova Best Bet: Friday, January 20th

A rebound day for our women’s selection, as Linda Fruhvirtova handles Kimberly Birrell even more easily than anticipated. Happy to have had a rather large staking there and the bet come through.

For Friday, we’ll go back to Fruhvirtova’s match, this time as she takes on her compatriot Marketa Vondrousova in an all-Czech Republic encounter.

In this article:


Marketa Vondrousova vs Linda Fruhvirtova Preview

January 21st, TBD (UK Time)

After a pair of impressive wins – Fruhvirtova dominating an Aussie pushed on by the crowd, and Vondrousova against the No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur (albeit, an ailing Jabeur) – the pair of Czech women now square off for a spot in the second week of the Australian Open.

The more experienced Vondrousova is a clear favourite, but I was surprised to see this handicap below the -5 games number.

While the younger of the two has improved by a fairly significant margin since last year in her hard court play, there are still a few weaknesses to her game that Vondrousova is poised to exploit.

For starters, the lack of big power or pace on Fruhvirtova’s serve and forehand are a big concern against one of the better defenders and more consistent baseliners in the game. Beating Vondrousova is an exceedingly difficult task without at least one major weapon to win free points against her. The only two players to take her down since November? Aryna Sabalenka and Alycia Parks. Those two have, arguably, two of the biggest five serves on the women’s tour at the moment.

Next, her major strength is the backhand, which when driven crosscourt, is sent right into the Vondrousova forehand. That’s a recipe for disaster, since Vondrousova doesn’t commit many unforced errors, and also can redirect pace to just about any spot on the court, meaning the youngster will have to ensure at all times that she doesn’t leave any part of the court completely open.

It’s one thing to take down Birrell in rather dominant fashion. It’s another to step up to a player like Vondrousova and keep things close.


Marketa Vondrousova vs Linda Fruhvirtova Best Bet

It’s odd to see this much of an undervaluation one round followed up by an equally poor overvaluation the next on the same player, but here we are.

Looks as though the market has realised that Fruhvirtova is, in fact, somewhat competent on hard courts. The issue is, she’s still not at the level to be considered a dog of fewer than five games to one of the WTA Tour’s elite.

Vondrousova was off for quite a while due to an injury, but returned late in 2022, won a high-level ITF event in England, crushed a powerful hard courter in Danielle Collins and has only lost to up-and-comer and red-hot Alycia Parks indoors and the incredibly powerful top-5 Aryna Sabalenka since her return.

This is simply too big an ask of the teen, even if her game has improved on the surface.

  • Selection: Vondrousova -4.5 Games
  • Best Odds: 2.17 (Coolbet)
  • Stakes: 3/10

Odds as at 1:00 am on January 20th, 2022. Odds may now differ.


More Marketa Vondrousova vs Linda Fruhvirtova Tips


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