WTA Elite Trophy Final Odds & Pick: Bertens vs Sabalenka

• The WTA Elite Trophy Finals will take place Sunday October 27 at 1:00am EST
• This will be the sixth time Aryna Sabalenka and Kiki Bertens have faced each other
• Sabalenka won the last time the two faced each other at the Wuhan Open

The WTA Elite Trophy Finals will take place early Sunday morning at 1:00am ET. No. 1 seed Kiki Bertens will take on No. 4 seed Aryna Sabalenka. Both were favored coming into the tournament, but Sabalenka is the favorite the win the match at -180, while Bertens is +145.

WTA Elite Trophy Final Odds

*Odds taken 10/26/2019

Bertens’ Road to the Semifinals

Kiki Bertens was able to find her way back after losing the first set to beat her opponent Saisai Zheng, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. After losing the first set, she also found herself down in the second, but adjusted and won the next nine of 11 games and take a 4-1 in what was the deciding set.

?? @kikibertens fires back to take second set against Zheng, 6-3@WTAEliteTrophy pic.twitter.com/xD3QjH7dlA

— wta (@WTA) October 26, 2019

The Chinese crowd was very much against her, having been playing hometown favorite, Zheng, but Bertens said that it provided her with more energy to win the match.

Bertens will have to take her strong forehand and serve into the finals against Sabalenka in order to win.

Sabalenka’s Road to the Semifinals

Sabalenka has been playing dominant tennis all tournament this week at the Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. She battled against Elise Mertens in the quarterfinals to win 6-4, 7-5, and win the Rose Group. She defeated Mertens in two hours and 20 minutes, that evened out their career head-to-head at 2-2.

Her quarterfinals match was fairly even with both players have four service breaks. Despite Sabalenka committing 10 double faults in the match, she was able to win 73% of her first service points, which helped lead her to victory. Her double faults were something that seemed to continue over to her semifinals match, having committed seven against Karolina Muchova. She was able to win 58% of her first service points, which again led to victory there.

It’s interesting to note that three of Sabalenka’s four WTA single titles have come in China. She enjoys playing here, and has managed to find success. Her over record on Chinese soil is 31-7. The finals Sunday morning will be Sabalenka’s ninth and fourth this season.

This will be the first time these players have seen each other in a final, but the sixth time of their career. Prior to this final, the furthest round they ever saw each other was the semifinals in St. Petersburg, Russia earlier this year, where Bertens won in straight sets. Most recently, Aryna Sabalenka beat Kiki Bertens in the round of 16 at the Wuhan Open, where she won a rather rocky match, 6-1, 7-6(9).

Head-to-Head

Aryna Sabalenka has been struggling with her serving the past couple matches, which is something that Bertens can take advantage of really quickly, without doing anything herself really. In the past two matches, Sabalenka has had 17 double faults collectively. If she isn’t able to clean that up, Bertens will come out on top with the trophy.

It’s fairly even going in to this match between the two. Berten’s holds the advantage from their career head to head, but Sabalenka’s career record on Chinese soil speaks for itself.

Best Bet

Going against the odds here, Bertens seems to be the best bet. The odds are fairly close, with Bertens +145 and Sablenka favored at -180, but the World ranked No. 10, has shown in the past that she is able to play with the best of them and come back from deficit. Both players have fought really hard throughout the tournament, and neither have played without error. So the opponent that is able to take advantage of the others errors first, will be the one to win the title.

Pick: Kiki Bertens (+145)