tennis | Monday, June 6, 2022 6:45 PM (Revised at: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 1:05 PM)

Tuesday's WTA Tennis Best Bet: Hertogenbosch, June 7th

Jon Reid

WTA Hertogenbosch Best Bet: Minnen vs Blinkova

Tuesday, June 7th, TBD

Well, the rain is taking its toll on the ability to get play going in the Netherlands, but the value on the WTA side of things continues to be there, so we’ll continue to look to take advantage.

For Tuesday’s selection, it’s the big-serving Belgian Greet Minnen that looks to be of value against her younger counterpart, Anna Blinkova.

Surely glad to be rid of the clay season, Minnen gets onto a surface that suits her game better than almost any other.

With a big serve capable of finding plenty of cheap points and a big forehand to back it up and put away even more points, grass and quick hardcourts are Minnen’s bread and butter. She also possesses an effective slice that should fare particularly well on the grass.

While Blinkova isn’t exactly a pusher, she doesn’t possess nearly the power and, while improving on the error count in the last few seasons, can still concede plenty of points off both wings in baseline rallies.

It also takes a much higher calibre kind of player to beat Minnen on the rarely-used grass courts. In her two seasons competing on the surface, Minnen has posted a positive record, and more importantly for this particular handicap, only lost to the likes of Coco Gauff, Veronika Kudermetova, Alison van Uytvanck, Alison Riske, Ajla Tomljanovic and Kaja Juvan. All of those women are substantially better than Blinkova and possess the ability to stick with Minnen.

Finally, unlike many other big servers, Minnen doesn’t sacrifice as much in the movement department as many others that have gameplans predicated on power. That’s not to say she’s the most fleet of foot by any means, but it isn’t a notable weakness that can be targeted for cheap points time after time.

Without that clear weakness, a decent pedigree on the surface and a game style that fits really well, Minnen should be a larger favourite in this position for my money.

If you want to get cheeky with it, the 2-0 set score (somewhere posted as -1.5 sets) also seems a tasty price as well.