Paula Badosa will face Ludmilla Samsonova in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. The match will start on February 19 at 11:00 UK time.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #1 – Handicap (+3) for Badosa – 1.80.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #2 – Total Games Over 21 – 1.71.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #3 – 1st Set Games Over 9.5 – 1.88.
Samsonova had a successful tournament in Abu Dhabi. However, overall on the season, Ludmilla has been unstable and has regularly failed in many starts. Badosa returned to the tour after an injury, had a good fight last week against the well-formed Haddad Maia. We believe that the bookmakers are underestimating the Spanish tennis player in the upcoming match, which is worth taking advantage of when choosing a bet on the match.
In their last head-to-head encounter, three sets were needed to determine the winner, with two of them being tie-breaks. We expect today’s encounter to be a long one.
Paula has not had much luck so far this year. In mid-January, she had to miss the Australian Open due to injury.
In early February, the Spaniard could not perform in Abu Dhabi. This time the reason was a virus.
Earlier this week, Badosa failed to make a single round in Doha, promptly losing to Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil (6-7, 3-6).
Badoda’s only success so far in the new season has been reaching the semi-finals of the Adelaide tournament. It was there that she got injured and couldn’t make it to the 1/2 match against Daria Kasatkina and didn’t go to Melbourne.
Paula Badosa has lost four in a row at the WTA 1000 tournament level.
Ludmilla, meanwhile, was not happy at Doha either. In her first match, the Russian was defeated by Sofia Kenin (3-6, 1-6).
However, it was not a great surprise. Apparently, Samsonova just didn’t have time to recover after the Abu Dhabi tournament where she managed to reach the final.
In the decisive match, Ludmilla was defeated by Belinda Benic (6-1, 6-7, 4-6).
On the tie-break of the second set, Samsonova dropped three match points. After that, of course, it is difficult to come to one’s senses.
In eight of Ludmilla Samsonova’s last ten matches against top-20 tennis players, more than 20 games have been played.
Type of Court – Hard
Speed of Court – 8/10
Paula Badosa’s Rating – 20
Paula Badosa Wins/Losses in 2023 – 4/2
Ludmilla Samsonova’s Rating – 15
Ludmilla Samsonova Wins/Losses in 2023 – 6/5
In four of Badosa’s previous five matches, more than 9.5 games have been played in the first set. We offer to bet on “1st Set Games Over 9.5” with odds of 1.88.
Samsonova leads with a score of 1-0 in the head-to-head encounters. The only time they met was at the Australian Open in 2021. In that match, Samsonova defeated Badosa (6-7, 7-6, 7-5) in three sets.
The match will be played in Center Court, Aviation Club Tennis Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We recommend checking out the odds for the Dubai Tennis Championships: Paula Badosa vs Ludmilla Samsonova at 1xBet and VBET.