Betting odds, Tennis Tip & Prediction for Angelique Kerber – Ajla Tomljanovic
With two gruelling matches already in the bones of Germany’s best tennis player, she is now looking to reach the round of eight at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Two years ago, she stormed into the final here and clearly feels comfortable on the court. But beware: her opponent is on the rise and will make life difficult for her – even though Kerber leads 2-0 in the head-to-head comparison!
It will be Ajla Tomljanovic who will try to prevent Angelique Kerber from reaching the quarter-finals. The German will have to push her limits in Indian Wells, but she knows how to win close duels.
And she also shows that her early exit in preparation for this Masters in Ostrava was obviously only a minor slip and by no means a relapse into past, unsuccessful times.
Already against Katerina Siniakova, the player from Kiel needed three sets, won 6-1, 6-7, 7-5 in the end. Her opponent offered her an unbelievable 22 break chances, of which she took nine. Of course, Kerber also benefited from her opponent’s many mistakes.
The Czech made 16 double faults, so it’s no wonder that Kerber won the match. Daria Kasatkina followed with an opponent who is only a few places behind her in the world rankings.
6-2, 1-6, 6-4 – again the 33-year-old failed to win the second set, but went on to win the decisive third. At the US Open, three of her four matches had gone to three sets before she was eliminated in the last 16.
The German will have to put aside the shakiness from the second two sets in Indian Wells if she wants to get as far as she did two years ago. In 2019, at the most recent edition of the tournament, she had advanced to the final.
Even then, when she lost to Bianca Andreescu in the end, three matches featured full three sets. For the bookmakers, Kerber is the favourite on Wednesday, not only at Unibet the odds climb just slightly above 1.50.
Her opponent is listed with 2,45, which means: A defeat by Kerber would not be that sensational. Ajla Tomljanovic may have been the underdog until a few months ago, but now the Australian has made up a lot of ground.
She has already climbed to 47th place in the world rankings and has already caused a stir in Indian Wells. For years, she failed in the second round at the latest, so she has already bagged her best Masters on this surface.
In round 1, she had a fairly easy opponent in Usuna Maitane Arconada, and her 6-0, 6-2 score spoke volumes. But then the fifth-seeded top player Garbine Muguruza was waiting for her
Tomljanovic bought the Spaniard’s guts out, winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to earn a 3rd round bye. Again, she faced a player who is actually well ahead of her at home: Tamara Zidansek.
6-4, 6-3 – this time the 28-year-old did not need a third set. She used seven of her eight break chances and brought a strong 83% of her first serve over the net. A clear improvement, as in the previous two rounds it had only been around 60%.
The Australian celebrated her greatest success this year without a doubt in Wimbledon, where she only lost to Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals. Whether it’s Tomljanovic or Kerber, the winner will meet either Barbora Krejcikova or Paula Badosa.
Incidentally, the two players have already met twice, on the big stage. At the 2015 French Open, Kerber was just as successful in two sets as she was at the 2010 US Open.
Of course, my Kerber Tomljanovic tip does not only focus on the two direct duels, because since then the 1.80m tall Australian in particular has become significantly stronger
Kerber too? The 33-year-old struggled quite a bit against both Kasatkina and Siniakova, dropping one set each. Since Tomljanovic is known as an excellent fighter, I expect a long, exhausting match on Wednesday as well.
