tennis | Monday, July 18, 2022 7:24 AM

Monday's WTA Tennis Best Bet: Hamburg, July 18th

Jon Reid

WTA Hamburg BEST BET: French vs Kalinskaya

Monday, July 18th, 10:00 UK Time

With a new week, come four new tournaments across both the ATP and WTA Tours. Here’s to a change of fortunes from the end of last week.

The women are set to play in the northern German city of Hamburg (along with the men in a combined event) and in the Sicilian capital of Palermo (be sure to factor in the wind for any wagers placed on that tournament, as it quite often plays a significant role).

For Monday’s selection, it’s a familiar player, as I’m looking to back Anna Kalinskaya (yes, despite the gut-wrenching loss from *5-4 up in the third last week), who is priced as an underdog against Magdalena Frech.

I think the markets have taken a look at her record this season on the clay (a dismal 2-5) and concluded that she’s a poor player on the surface. Looking a bit deeper into those losses, however, I’m not so sure she should be the outsider in this match.

While the first two losses against Elsa Jacquemot and Lucia Bronzetti were somewhat poor, her last two losses on the dirt were both as an underdog, both went three sets and she covered the handicap against Madison Keys at Roland Garros and of course, served for the match against Olga Danilovic last week. All while beating clay-court specialist Tamara Zidansek with the markets against her as well.

Her strong serve and ability to generate pace allow her to cut through the slower clay surface, while her ability to stick around in longer rallies bodes well on a surface that rewards consistency as well. That combination makes her a better player on the dirt than her record this season would suggest for my money.

On the other side of the net, Frech is someone who’s game possesses surface versatility, as her serve plays up on quicker surfaces and her slice is effective on lower-bouncing courts. On the clay, her incredible consistency from the baseline allows her to find wins. She doesn’t have any big weapon though, and with Kalinskaya likely to dictate and able be patient and play prolonged rallies, it’s hard to see how the Pole will craft a winning gameplan – especially with the slice not nearly as effective on the clay and her game lacking effective topspin to neutralise the Kalinskaya attack.

The recent loss may have stung us in Lausanne, but I’m not going to let that deter me from backing her in a promising position here.