Maria Sakkai vs. Iga Swiatek
In a rematch of their Doha semifinal in late-February, world No. 4 Iga Swiatek takes on world No. 6 Maria Sakkari. Swiatek emerged as the winner after never having won a set against Sakkari in their previous three meetings. It will be interesting to see whether or not Sakkari can find the edge that allowed her to dominate Swiatek before last month’s turnaround.
If you read our pre-tournament betting preview, it’s possible you already have Swiatek to win this tournament at +550 odds. If that’s the case, it might be worth grabbing Sakkari at +145 to guarantee that you end up winning some money at this event. However, we still believe Swiatek will end up lifting the trophy.
Both of these players like to rip the cover off the ball, so you should expect a lot of aggressive groundstrokes. The difference between these two is that Swiatek just has so many big wins under her belt already. Not only is she a former French Open champion, but she has also won two WTA 1000 titles. On the other hand, Sakkari hasn’t quite broken through at one of the big ones just yet. The 26-year-old has just WTA title to her name, at the Morocco Open back in 2019. It's hard to believe that the sixth-ranked player in the world has so little success in finals, but until she can overcome that type of pressure consistently, it’ll be a little harder to trust her to beat a proven champion like Swiatek.
If you’re not comfortable taking the 20-year-old on the moneyline at -195, the game spread should be just fine. It’s not likely Swiatek will win without covering 2.5 games.
The Pick: Swiatek -2.5 Games (-150)
