Belinda Bencic vs Maria Sakkari
14th February 11:30hrs
Tennis – St Petersburg – WTA
Pick Sakkari
Bookmaker Marathonbet
Odds: 6/5 odds taken 22:18 GMT, Thursday 13 January
This should be a fantastic fixture at the St Petersburg Ladies trophy. Up for grabs is a place in the semi-finals. Switzerland’s Bencic is the top seed for the tournament, but the way that Sakkari has been playing, she is going to have her hands full.
Table of Contents
Bencic opens with an impressive win
As the top seed, Belinda Bencic had a first-round bye. That put her into a fixture against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round. Bencic took the match in straight sets.
It was a relatively close match with Bencic winning the first set on a tie-break, before wrapping the second up 6-4. Bencic is a class act, but things haven’t quite happened for her in 2020.
She lost in the first round of the Shenzhen Open, before a quarter-final exit in Adelaide. She was crushed in the third round at the Australian Open by Anett Kontaveit, managing only to get the one game on the board in the match.
This will be the first meeting between Bencic and Sakkari. The one area in which Bencic has fallen a little bit short this season is that she has been struggling to hold her service games, winning less than 60%.
Sakkari fired up in St Petersburg
Maria Sakkari is the sixth seed for the St Petersburg event. She opened with a battling win over a qualifier in the first round of action. She only got across the finish line via a tie-break in the deciding set.
But then once that was out of her system, she got things going much better in her second-round match. That was against Alize Cornet. Sakkari didn’t mess around taking a 6-2, 6-4 win.
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Sakkari, who is ranked 21st in the world currently, really got her season going at the Australian Open. She impressed there by reaching the round of sixteen where she failed to hold on against Petra Kvitova having secured the first set.
Sakkari has done a tremendous job behind her service so far this year. His win percentage in service games is up at 74%, considerably higher than that of Bencic.
Belinda Bencic vs Maria Sakkari Betting Advice
Bencic is an incredibly smart player but her service games have been lacking a bit of edge. That could open a big door for her opponent Sakkari to get something together in this fixture.
Key Facts – Belinda Bencic vs Maria Sakkari Betting Tip
- Belinda Bencic is the top seed in St Petersburg
- Belinda Bencic meets Sakkari for the first time
- Maria Sakkari reached the R16 at the Australian Open
There is a little bit of momentum going with the Greek player who had a good run at the Australian Open. Sakkari comes in after raising her game in the second round and there is value in having a flutter her as the underdog here, as Bencic hasn’t hit top form in 2020.
The best betting odds for Belinda Bencic vs Maria Sakkari
Belinda Bencic to win: 4/6 at Bet365
Maria Sakkari: 6/5 at Bet365
