Tennis
2026-02-16 - Jelena Ostapenko vs Anna Kalinskaya
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : WTA 1000 Dubai First Round
Monday 16th February 2025 - Scheduled 3pm
11am (British Time)
Preview
A spread like this one does look a little disrespectful to a former Grand Slam Winner in Jelena Ostapenko, but these days her most consistent tennis tends to be played on a Doubles court.
With that being said, respect has to be given to the World Number 24 for reaching the Doha Semi Final at a WTA 1000 event.
The run was unexpected considering Jelena Ostapenko had been 2-4 on the hard courts in 2026, but she took advantage of a number of upsets around her in Doha. While beating one top 20 Ranked opponent, the other three wins in the tournament were against players Ranked Number 57 or lower and Jelena Ostapenko found herself well beaten by Victoria Mboko in the Semi Final.
Over the last two and a bit years on the hard courts, Jelena Ostapenko's numbers have been declining and she finished with an 8-14 record on the surface last year.
Reaching the Semi Final in Doha will help the confidence, but Ostapenko played a lot of tennis at that tournament having also reached the Doubles Final. The Latvian, and her partner, blew a massive lead in that Final before being beaten and this is a match up that has given Jelena Ostapenko problems in the past.
Anna Kalinskaya has made a much stronger start to 2026, although she was beaten in the Quarter Final in Doha to eventual Champion Karolina Muchova.
All four of the defeats suffered in 2026 have been against top 20 Ranked opponents, which also deserves a lot of respect, and the Anna Kalinskaya numbers being put together on the hard courts have been much better than those produced by Jelena Ostapenko.
The World Number 28 will certainly feel she can be more effective behind the second serve compared with Jelena Ostapenko, while the latter is much more likely to throw in too many Unforced Errors.
In the three previous matches on the Tour, Anna Kalinskaya has not only won all three, but she has not dropped a set and the service numbers have been much stronger on her side of the net.
Having had a little more time to prepare for this tournament in Doha, most factors seem to be in favour of the lower Ranked player and Anna Kalinskaya can lay the foundation for another strong Middle East run by producing a strong win in this First Round match in Dubai.
Prediction
Lay the games with the favourite in this First Round match.
The Pick :
Jelena Ostapenko 0-2 Anna Kalinskaya
