tennis | Friday, December 16, 2022 9:04 AM

Friday Tennis Best Bet: WTA 125K Limoges, Clara Tauson vs Lucia Bronzetti

Jon Reid

Clara Tauson vs Lucia Bronzetti Best Bet: Friday, December 16th

Well, it was a competitive start from Shuai Zhang, as she got out to a 3-2 lead with a break of serve and a strong performance behind her own serve, but a cacophony of errors off her racquet saw Anhelina Kalinina win 10 of the final 11 games to seal a relatively straightforward win. Zhang continues to puzzle, at times looking strong and at others looking like an error-machine and somewhat disinterested. It was yet another performance where she was abysmal behind her first serve by the end of the match, winning just 54% of those points.

Onto Friday, where we’ll take a look at the semifinal between Clara Tauson and Lucia Bronzetti.

In this article:

Clara Tauson vs Lucia Bronzetti Preview
Clara Tauson vs Lucia Bronzetti Best Bet

Clara Tauson vs Lucia Bronzetti Preview

December 16th, 17:30 UK Time

What a late-season surge from the talented young gun from Denmark. After a year that has been derailed (for the most part) by injury, the big-hitting Dane has rattled off 10 wins from 11 matches to see her provisional ranking jump to No. 105 in the rankings. A win against Bronzetti and Tauson re-enters the top 100.

Just 19 years old, Tauson has already reached a career-high ranking of No. 33, dropped down due to injury and is on the precipice of another run into the world’s top 50.

With a power-oriented game and the height to give her an additional edge with her serve, she’s a tough out on any given day, let alone when her game is clicking. While I’m higher on Bronzetti most of the time in these conditions, she struggled with Burel today for a set and a half (she trailed by a set and a break of serve before Burel’s error-prone game finally gave way), and the Frenchwoman isn’t near the level of Tauson.

For starters, the serve is strong, but nowhere near as potent as the Dane’s. Her groundstrokes can be pacy, but once again, Tauson will be an even more difficult test in that regard. Finally, while she may not be the beacon of consistency, she isn’t more error-prone than someone like Burel, yet possesses more power to keep points even shorter when she’s dictating, meaning we’re also less likely to see a deluge of unforced errors off of her racquet.

Clara Tauson vs Lucia Bronzetti Best Bet

After Burel was within a few games of ending Bronzetti’s run on Wednesday in straight sets, I’m happy to back Tauson to win this one comfortably on Thursday.

I strongly considered the 2-0 market, but with the -4.5 games having become a bit better of a price, the ability to cover in three sets (something the women tend to do more than the men, thanks to the more return-oriented nature of the game) provides added insurance, thus a bit more value.