Tennis BETTING PREVIEW - Amanda Anisimova vs Karolina Pliskova

Tennis

2026-02-09 - Amanda Anisimova vs Karolina Pliskova

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Amanda Anisimova vs Karolina Pliskova
Tennis : WTA 1000 Doha Second Round
Monday 9th February 2025 - Scheduled 6pm
3pm (British Time)

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Preview

The Australian Open is now in the history books and the WTA Tour is swinging through the Middle East with back to back 1000 events.

The Second Round is where the majority of the top names enter the tournament in Doha and Amanda Anisimova is going into the event as the Number 3 Seed.

Her head to head with Karolina Pliskova has to be a concern with the veteran winning five of the six previous matches on the Tour, although it has been over two and a half years since they last played one another. That was on the hard courts in Canada and Karolina Pliskova only dropped two games, while all of those previous matches have been on this surface, which has to give Pliskova a huge boost.

Of course it should be noted that Karolina Pliskova was the higher Seeded player in all of those previous matches and was in the top 15 of the World Rankings in all of those.

Things have changed in February 2026 with Karolina Pliskova making her way back up the World Rankings having missed much of 2025 through injury and she is the World Number 416. An early loss in Cluj will have dented some of the confidence that was earned by reaching the Australian Open Third Round, but Pliskova was a strong winner in the First Round in Doha and the serve continues to be a big weapon.

It should be a positive for her in this Second Round match against an aggressive player in Amanda Anisimova, but one who has yet to really get on top of return games as much a World Number 4 may expect.

However, that return number has improved when Amanda Anisimova has played against opponents Ranked outside of the top 50 on hard courts over the last twelve months. She has been able to back up her improvement by winning twenty-one out of twenty-five matches in that spot, while the American has also been able to back up her powerful first serve very efficiently.

The performances over the last month have given Karolina Pliskova some confidence, but she was beaten pretty handily by Madison Keys in Melbourne.

Madison Keys is the highest Ranked player Pliskova has played since she returned to the Tour at the end of last year and the other matches have been against players who have not been Ranked above Number 59. Confidence and having plenty of experience taking on some of the stronger players on the Tour will give Karolina Pliskova enough to carry her onto the court, but Amanda Anisimova may prove to be a little too tough and can earn the Breaks of serve that can see her move through to the Third Round.

Prediction

This is the biggest tournament that has been scheduled on the WTA Tour behind the Australian Open.

With that in mind, it is no surprise that so many of the top names have arrived in Doha before heading into another big event in Dubai next week.

One of the top Seeds in this event can begin her tournament with a strong performance against veteran Karolina Pliskova and Amanda Anisimova can find the breaks of serve to cover a big line.

The Pick :

Amanda Anisimova 2-0 Karolina Pliskova

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Amanda Anisimova - 5.5 Games at 1.80 with BetFred