tennis | Thursday, January 5, 2023 8:53 AM

Thursday Tennis Best Bet: WTA Adelaide, Aryna Sabalenka vs Marketa Vondrousova

Jon Reid

Aryna Sabalenka vs Marketa Vondrousova Best Bet: Thursday, January 5th

A nice second set to put things away for Veronika Kudermetova saw our selection for Tuesday’s action come away victorious.

For Thursday, we’ll look at the tilt between Aryna Sabalenka and Marketa Vondrousova, as the two will go at it in what should be a major clash of styles.

In this article:

Aryna Sabalenka vs Marketa Vondrousova Preview
Aryna Sabalenka vs Marketa Vondrousova Best Bet

Aryna Sabalenka vs Marketa Vondrousova Preview

January 5th, TBD (UK Time)

The first quarterfinal set in the singles draw for the women in Adelaide should prove to be a fun one, as former top-15 Vondrousouva and her incredibly consistent baseline game takes on the big serving and powerful baseline game of current No. 5 Sabalenka.

There’s little doubt that the Belarussian is the more likely player to end with more winners, unforced errors, aces and double faults. She’ll be the one looking to attack more consistently and take it to her Czech opponent.

That should be just fine with the southpaw, however, as she handled a similar type of aggressive player in Ekaterina Alexandrova last round (and the Russian was playing some superb tennis, limiting errors for long stretches of that match) and the pace coming at her helps her counterpunching abilities become more effective.

Where Sabalenka wants shorter points and will try to end them with her potent first serve and big forehand, Vondrousova will want prolonged points and will likely try to move her opponent around the court, with incredibly precise shots from both wings.

Aryna Sabalenka vs Marketa Vondrousova Best Bet

Sabalenka has improved in a big way in becoming a more reliable top-tier player on the WTA Tour, but her penchant for blowing sets with unnecessary errors and aggression still remains a part of her game.

For me, that presents some nice value in the total games market, as I believe the contrast in styles and talent from both players should be plenty to win them each enough games to send this one over the 21.5-game total.