Betting Central

Line Calls, presented by FanDuel Sportsbook: Anastasia Potapova vs. Wang Qiang, Prague

Potapova is coming off of a remarkable win over world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit, but Wang is playing well and is a formidable foe in her own right.

ByZachary Cohen

Published Jul 29, 2022

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If you’re looking for some betting action on Saturday, we have an enticing play. At the Livesport Prague Open, world No. 59 Anastasia Potapova is currently a -194 favorite over world No. 141 Wang Qiang, and we think there’s real value in backing the 30-year-old underdog in this match.

This will be the first meeting between these two players, so we don’t really have much to go back on when dissecting this match-up. What we do know: Wang is a former world No. 12 and is a lot better than her current ranking would suggest. She has dealt with injuries over the last few years, but has looked good in Prague thus far. The native of China didn’t drop a set in her two qualifying matches, and she has since knocked off world No. 91 Rebecca Peterson, Dalila Jakupovic and world No. 68 Magda Linette. Against Peterson and Linette, Wang was the steadier player under pressure, claiming tight deciding sets.

Wang's two WTA titles were won on hard courts.

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Wang has had a very solid hard-court season this year, going 11-6 on the surface. She is now 118-88 (a win percentage of 57.3%) on hard courts in her career—so she has to be happy to no longer be playing on grass, where she was 1-3 on the year and is just 5-10 in her career.

That impressive hard-court record for Wang is hard to ignore when considering Potapova is just 33-39 on the surface in her career. The Russian is at her best on clay, making it somewhat hard to get too excited by her straight-set win over world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit last match. That upset also makes this a prime letdown spot for Potapova, as it was just her second win over a Top 10 player. Now, she has to go back out and channel the same energy against Wang, and it might be difficult for her to bring the same intensity.

All in all, there’s quite a few reasons to doubt Potapova coming into this match, and we like Wang’s aggressive, attacking style to be on full display. Potapova has a booming forehand, but Wang won’t hesitate to go at the Russian’s backhand. We’re taking a flier on her as an underdog in this match and this could end up being a nice bankroll booster heading into next week’s Citi Open.

Line Call: Wang To Win (+156)

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