Tennis
2019-01-22 - Petra Kvitova vs Ashleigh Barty
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis: Australian Open Quarter Final
Tuesday 22nd January 2018 - Scheduled 7pm
British Time: 8am
Preview
These two players contested the Final in Sydney a couple of days before the Australian Open begun and both players have taken the confidence from that tournament into this one.
On that occasion it was Petra Kvitova who came from a set down to beat Ashleigh Barty and that will help her hold the mental advantage in this match as the Czech player is now 3-0 against Barty in her career.
Like in Sydney it will be Barty who receives the large majority of the backing from the crowd, but Kvitova doesn't really strike me as someone who will be that bothered by that. Instead she should be focused on having the chance to match her best ever run at the Australian Open and being in a position to win a third Grand Slam title having previously won twice at Wimbledon.
The performances have been scary from Kvitova who has bludgeoned her way past her opponents and not really been threatened at all. In her eight sets won at the Australian Open, only Belinda Bencic managed to reach four games in a single set, while it was Bencic and Magdalena Ryabrikova who have had the most success against Kvitova with five games won in their defeats to her.
Ashleigh Barty has not been much less impressive and her win over Maria Sharapova in the Fourth Round despite dropping the first set will really help her belief. After leaving tennis to play cricket for two years, Barty has come back and looked like one of the best players on the WTA Tour, but reaching a Quarter Final for the first time will feel like a real breakthrough for her.
There are still some questions about Barty's ability to challenge the best players on the Tour and her record against top 10 Ranked opponents is not that impressive. She has gone 2-1 in that spot in 2019, but Barty was just 1-4 in 2018 and her numbers really took a significant dent when playing those opponents.
On the bare numbers there isn't much between these players, but Kvitova may just have the slight edge on both the serve and return. In matches like this one that can make all the difference while the head to head can't be ignored as I would surely expect Kvitova to come into this match knowing she can find a win no matter what situation arises early in the match.
It is much more imperative for Barty to get off to a good start to give herself a shot of confidence that she can compete at this level against a player in some of the best form she has shown on a tennis court. Ultimately I have a little bit more faith in the Petra Kvitova serve and this is a player who is going to dictate the direction of the match with her big hitting.
At times that has let Kvitova down as she won't shy away from looking for winners even when making unforced errors galore, but the form and confidence should give the higher Ranked player enough of an edge in the sets played to win and cover this number.
Prediction
Lay the games with the favourite.
The Pick :
Petra Kvitova 2-1 Ashleigh Barty
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Petra Kvitova - 2.5 Games at 1.91 with BetFred
