Tennis
2026-02-15 - Liudmila Samsonova vs Leylah Fernandez
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : WTA 1000 Dubai First Round
Sunday 15th February 2025 - Scheduled 3pm
11am (British Time)
Preview
Both of these players are Ranked inside the top 30, but neither can really point to much positive form to open the 2026 season.
Out of the two, Liudmila Samsonova has reached a couple of Quarter Finals, including in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, but she did suffer an opening Round defeat in Doha.
That is still considerably stronger form than Leylah Fernandez who has lost five of the six hard court matches played this season and all of those losses have been in matches in which she entered as the higher Ranked player. The Canadian is a former US Open Finalist, but Fernandez has struggled to put the consistency together and she has a record that is only just over 0.500 over the last twelve months to underline the statement.
A real concern for Fernandez is that she has struggled to be competitive- her sole win in 2026 has been against the World Number 220, and all of her defeats have been in straight sets.
The serve has been vulnerable, but it is the return game which has really been troubling Leylah Fernandez and she may struggle to get a lot of joy out of the Samsonova serve.
In the three previous matches against one another, it is Liudmila Samsonova who has won twice, but the numbers have suggested she has been the better player each time. The two hard court matches have been split with a win apiece, but the edge has to be with Samsonova against an out of sorts Leylah Fernandez.
Prediction
Lay the games with the player in the slightly superior form, especially as she has had the edge in previous matches between these two.
The Pick :
Liudmila Samsonova 2-1 Leylah Fernandez
