WTA US OPEN 2021 Notes
Quarter One
Barty – Deserved favourite and the best player in the world atm, her price of 3.5 is a little short though.
Brady – Carrying a foot injury and could lose to Raducanu in round one.
Muchova – Retired last match, has the form on hard courts to go well but we need to see how fit she is first.
SST – Has continued to win on hard courts and will be a tough opponent for whoever she faces, she has a celing though and IF she gets past Muchova in round one will be meeting players from round 4 onwards who should be able to overpower her.
Bencic – Olympic winner and semi-finalist here in 2019, she could make a run this tournament.
Pegula – Is mentally damaged as I’ve seen her multiple times this season completely fall apart mid match and blow BIG leads; she cannot EVER be trusted. I also can’t see her beating Barty, Bencic & Swiatek all in the same week.
Swiatek – Supremely talented and capable beating all the players in this section on her day, she should go well this week.
Quarter Two
Pliskova – Thrashed by Barty in the Wimbledon final this year, can she make another deep run at a slam? Has a potentially tough round 2 match against Anisimova.
Badosa – Is carrying a shoulder injury but has been in good form this season, we need to see how she manages her health this week before parting with any money.
Pavlyuchenkova – No form here at all…..EVER. Easily overlooked as she doesn’t seem to like conditions here in NYC.
Kvitova – Retired in Cincinnati due to the heat and humidity, she will face the same conditions here and can be overlooked.
Sakkari – Her athleticism wins her a lot of matches and it usually takes a good one to beat her here (Serena, Barty & Kenin over the last 3 years). Could be worth a small play on the quarter winner market and to be used as a trade in the outright.
Andreescu – Has looks hopelessly out of form this year but tore through the field here in 2019 when winning this event. The closest anyone got to her was Bencic who lost by 3 games in their semi-final. She is the joker in the pack and if she finds her form again, she will RIP this quarter apart.
Quarter Three
Svitolina – Won WTA Chicago last week but always falls short at the Slams and is of no interest to me even though she regularly makes the 4th round.
Vondrousova – Melted down from a winning position last week in Chicago but is capable of taking out Svitolina on hard courts.
Kasatkina – Has been in decent form this US swing but usually gets overpowered come Round 3 here at Flushing Meadows, losing to Kanepi, Konta & Wang here in recent years.
Rybakina – Played well at the Olympics and has the game to bustle up a few of these in this section. Halep & Osaka are her biggest threats.
Halep – Is a huge price but how fit is she? I can see her making week 2 but the question is will she gas due to lack of match fitness?
Kerber – Came back to life in the grass court swing winning a 250 then making the semi’s at Wimbledon. She carried that form over in her only appearance so far in the US making the semi’s in Cincinnati. A former champion (2016) and regularly makes round 4 here.
Osaka – Is the defending champion but is badly out of form, at her best she wins but we have yet to see half competent tennis from her since she had her mental health breakdown and stated doing half naked magazine cover shoots to ease the stress. We can’t possibly back her until we see her improve but if she looks back to her best, I’d snap up 6/1 on the outright.
Quarter Four
Krejcikova – Is in fantastic form and if we look at her record since the French Open (which she won) she has only lost to Barty (twice) & Bencic. She can go deep this week and looks a viable alternative to win the quarter above Sabalenka.
Konta – Has form here but has been poor since she was thrown out of Wimbledon for testing positive for Covid, then she fell ill after her vaccine and stated publicly how she regrets having it. Her mind is not right for this event.
Muguruza – Hasn’t won more than 3 matches in a week since February and despite her talent is overlooked here.
Azarenka – Like Muguruza she hasn’t won more than 3 matches in a week since this time last year at the US Open, is she going to spring back to life this time around? I wouldn’t bet on it.
Jabeur – Is a live threat to Sabalenka in the bottom half of this quarter as she can beat anybody on her day.
Sabalenka – Reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year and should make the quarter finals as long as she handles Jabeur in round 4. She has the power game to go well but can she reign in the errors over the two weeks?
My Quarter-Finalists.
Barty v Swiatek
Pliskova v Andreescu
Rybakina v Osaka
Krejcikova v Sabalenka
Outrights
Rybakina 35
Krejcikova 18
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