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Much like the men’s tip on the day, this is actually a Saturday match in Australia, but Friday night or early morning depending on where you are in the world.
For our WTA preview for the United Cup, let’s delve into Marketa Vondrousova vs Qinwen Zheng.
For more daily tennis tips, visit the bettingexpert community, but if you want more expert tips from Jon Reid, visit our Expert Insights section.
In this article:
I’ll take the powerful Zheng in this matchup in the conditions on offer in Australia.
There are very few slow courts in Australia, and the booming serve of Zheng is the difference maker here for me. She’s far more likely to hold serve, which implies she should also see more chances on return than Vondrousova.
It’ll take some excellent defending and angle generation from Vondrousova to try and wait out errors from Zheng – which is entirely possible, considering how the Chinese pro plays.
With how Zheng finished off her 2023, I’m optimistic she’ll continue to rise up the rankings, and quicker conditions are the perfect place to do just that.
Odds as at am UK Time on December 29th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
Read on for more expert insights.
What an incredible summer of tennis it was for the Czech star, who seemed to have regressed after reaching the French Open final a few years ago.
After stunning the tennis world to win Wimbledon, Vondrousova went on to put in respectable performances in Cincinnati and New York City (quarterfinals at both of those tournaments) before tailing off as the year wound down.
Beijing saw her exit in her first match, while she was swept away in group play at the WTA Tour year-end finals.
Though her game held up in quicker conditions throughout the summer at some of the bigger events on the women’s tour, she does play a more consistent style, with precision and the ability to move the ball around the court being the foundational part of her game.
The first serve seems to have more zip on it, which may help explain the improvement in results, but I’m not sure I like her against someone like Zheng in the Australian summer heat.
Zheng’s 2023 campaign was about as volatile as her game is on the court. After reaching the semis in Abu Dhabi in February, it took the youngster three months to reach another quarterfinal.
She then went on a bit of a losing streak, which was snapped by her winning a title in Palermo.
The talent isn’t in doubt with Zheng. The serve and groundstrokes are elite in the power department.
The question is whether she can learn to play in different gears and add consistency to her game, as well as develop a more tactical approach when it comes to building and constructing points.
With Australian hard courts being on the quicker side, she may be able to get away with just hammering away for the next month. It’ll be tough for most players to deal with her overwhelming power and extend points with the courts rewarding bigger hitters.
A bit shocking that these two haven’t met before on tour, with both being staples of the main circuit in recent years.
Either way, it should provide us with an entertaining match, considering the stylistic contrast between the two and the talent each of these women possesses!
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