tennis | Monday, August 22, 2022 9:16 AM

Monday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Granby, Rebecca Marino vs Victoria Mboko

Jon Reid

Rebecca Marino vs Victoria Mboko Best Bet: Monday, August 22nd

Well the women are in a pair of North American cities that aren’t too far from New York, as the final week to tune up their games for the year’s final grand slam event kicks off.

For Monday’s selection, it’s a match between a pair of Canadians in Granby that we’ll take a deeper look at.

In this article:

Rebecca Marino vs Victoria Mboko Preview
Rebecca Marino vs Victoria Mboko Best Bet

Rebecca Marino vs Victoria Mboko Preview

August 22nd, Time TBD

What a fun match for Canadian tennis fans in the opening round in the province of Quebec!

Rebecca Marino has done well to vault herself back into the top-120 in the last few seasons after a years-long absence from the professional game to take care of her mental health. Victoria Mboko is one of the best junior players in the world and has an extremely bright future.

This one should also be entertaining for those without any particular interest in Canadian tennis, as both women are relatively tall and possess powerful serves and forehands – even with Mboko being just 15 years old (though her 16th birthday is this week).

On a three-match losing skid, Marino will look to power her way through her younger compatriot and build some form ahead of the US Open, while Mboko has a great chance to continue to improve her ranking at a higher level – something she doesn’t get a chance to do often without many professional tournaments in her home country.

For my money, I think the youngster has a very strong chance to push Marino. For starters, her serve will find her plenty of free points to counter Marino’s ability to do the same. She can dictate from the baseline from both wings if the rallies get extended, and she’s a better mover for her height than her opponent from Vancouver.

Her backhand wing is also a bit stronger in terms of being a weapon. The real question is can she hold up over the course of two to three sets? We saw her play an even higher-ranked player in Toronto qualifiers a few weeks ago in Claire Liu (who also has a strong game, but moves far better than Marino) and she dominated the first set and a half. The missed opportunities on break points however, along with her energy levels depleting, cost her the chance to play for a spot in the main draw.

Considering she’s already got the game to hit with her more experienced opponent in this match, while also being the more athletic player, I’m backing Mboko to do more damage than the odds imply in this matchup.

Rebecca Marino vs Victoria Mboko Best Bet

The key with this match is to figure out how best to attack the different markets on offer.

Knowing that Mboko may struggle if this one goes three, I’d much prefer the set handicap rather than the games. A potential lopsided third set could cost us the +4.5 games bet, while the +1.5 sets handicap would have long since cashed.

I’m also not convinced that she covers the games if she loses in straight sets. Her serve being off and groundstrokes being wild is the most likely way for her to lose in straights. If that’s the case, we could see one-way traffic in both sets, and not cash the games handicap in that situation either.

I’m going with the sets handicap here, though the over total games market would be my second choice for a full stakes play.