US Open - Womens Day 5
Carla Suarez Navarro can come out on top when she meets Ekaterina Makarova on Friday. The Spaniard has an impressive 6-2 head-to-head record Ekaterina Makarova, and very little separates them in the rankings right now, with Makarova 40th and Suarez Navarro 35th. Their two-season hard court records against Top 100 players compare closely – Makarova enjoying a 22-21 slender advantage, while Suarez is slightly better at 22-17.
Recent form saw Makarova win in Washington, before reaching the 3rd Round in both Toronto and Cincinnati, but perhaps the market has overreacted a little. Suarez-Navarro was unlucky to draw Petra Kvitova in the first round at the Rogers Cup, and might have done much better on another day. At 6/4 she definitely looks too long in this one.
1pt Suarez Navarro to beat Makarova at 6/4
Another outsider who could have a decent chance is Caroline Garcia when she faces Petra Kvitova. The Czech has been a bit of a mixed bag since coming back into the game following a horrific injury sustained during a burglary on her house. She slunk past Jelena Jankovic in the first round, before moving up a gear against Alize Cornet in the 2nd round. Prior to that she didn’t enjoy much success in New Haven, Cincinnati or Toronto. She’s certainly got a lot to prove before we’ll be willing to trust her at odds-on. Since returning to the game, she has lost at odds of 2/7, 4/7, 1/4, 4/11 and 1/10, and that’s enough to justify a play on Garcia alone.
Add in that the French lady has won their last two meetings, and has been in decent enough form since Wimbledon and the case starts to look pretty compelling about the 11/8 shot. Those two victories both came within the last three years, while she might have had an even better warm-up run had she not run into Simona Halep at the quarters in Totonto. All in all, Garcia looks a great bet at 11/8
2pts Garcia to beat Kvitova at 11/8