Marta Kostyuk and Belinda Bencic will play against each other in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Open. The match will start on February 8 at 15:00.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #1 – Handicap (-3.5) for Bencic – 1.688.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #2 – Total Games Under 22 – 1.74.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #3 – 1st Set Games Over 9.5 – 1.96.
A year ago in Miami on the hard court, Bencic saw no resistance from Kostyuk (6-3, 6-1). Belinda entered the new season more than confidently under Dmitry Tursunov and will clearly have a good chance of reaching the quarterfinals today. Especially as Marta did not impress in her opening game against Cirstea.
In their only face-to-face encounter, Kostyuk only managed to win four games. It’s unlikely we’ll see a long match today. Especially as Bencic has won seven of her eight victories in the new season with an accurate 2-0 in sets.
Kostyuk defeated Sorana Cirstea (6-2, 1-6, 6-2) in the first round.
Marta played the first and third sets without giving up a single game on her serve.
Last week, the Ukrainian reached the quarter-finals in Hua Hin, Thailand. At first, she had to somehow defeat Liang En-shuo (6-7, 6-3, 6-0) and Nao Hibino (6-3, 7-6) before losing to Bianca Andreescu (0-6, 6-7).
Remarkably, in her match against Andreescu, Marta was close to a comeback. In the second set, she was losing 1:5, but somehow she got to the tie-break. However, that was the end of her luck.
In the 2021 season, Kostyuk reached the quarter-finals in Abu Dhabi.
Marta Kostyuk has lost 11 times in a row to top-10 tennis players.
Bencic won the Adelaide International II last month. In the deciding match, Belinda defeated Daria Kasatkina (6-0, 6-2).
The Swiss had also beaten Garbine Muguruza (6-3, 6-4), Anna Kalinskaya (6-3, 6-3) and Caroline Garcia (6-2, 3-6, 6-4). The 1/2 final match against Veronika Kudermetova did not take place due to the injury of her opponent.
At the Australian Open, Bencic had a quiet first three rounds before losing to future champion Aryna Sabalenka. After the match, she admitted she had a hard time against the power of the Belarusian.
Belinda Bencic has won eight of her last nine hard-court encounters.
Type of Court – Hard
Speed of Court – 8/10
Marta Kostyuk’s Rating – 57
Marta Kostyuk Wins/Losses in 2023 – 9/4
Belinda Bencic’s Rating – 9
Belinda Bencic Wins/Losses in 2023 – 9/2
In three of the last five matches, Bencic has not played more than nine games in the first set. We offer to bet on “1st Set Games Over 9.5” with odds of 1.96.
Bencic leads with a score of 1-0 in the head-to-head encounters. The only time they met was at the Miami Open in 2022. In that match, Belinda Bencic defeated Marta Kostyuk (6-3, 6-1) in two sets.
The match will be played in Stadium, Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
We recommend checking out the odds for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Open: Marta Kostyuk vs Belinda Bencic at 1xBet and VBET.