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WTA Finals Odds & Predictions (Oct 31) – Pegula vs Sakkari & Jabeur vs Sabalenka

Stephanie Myles

by Stephanie Myles in Tennis

Updated Oct 31, 2022 · 7:11 AM PDT

Jabeur
The final eight at the WTA Finals pose for the annual "iconic" shot before the start of the event in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo: Supplied by the WTA Tour/Getty Images)
  • The WTA Finals begin on Monday, October 31 with No. 2 Ons Jabeur the highest-ranked player on Day 1
  • Jessica Pegula vs Maria Sakkari is a rematch of their WTA 1000 final at the Guadalajara Open a week ago
  • Jabeur and Pegula are favored to win their matches; read on as we break down the matchups

The WTA Finals has a temporary home in Fort Worth, Texas this year, with reduced prize money, but with the eight best singles players (and doubles teams) of 2022 all present.

Pegula vs Sakkari Odds

Player Spread Moneyline Total
[3]  Jessica Pegula (USA) -3.5 (-120) -235 O 21.5 (-106)
[5] Maria Sakkari (GRE) +3.5 (-106) +185 U 21.5 (-121)

Odds as of Oct. 31 at Barstool Sportsbook. Use this Barstool Sportsbook promo code to bet on the WTA Finals

 

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Monday’s singles matches are from the “Nancy Richey” group. It’s arguably a slightly easier group than the “Tracy Austin” group, which includes world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia.

Swiatek (at +120) is the strong favorite to win the tournament, followed by Jessica Pegula (+500) and Ons Jabeur (+650). Pegula is the -235 favorite in the odds above for the first match of the competition.

Pegula and Sakkari Meet Again

It was just over a week ago that Pegula and Maria Sakkari met in the final of the Guadalajara Open.

YouTube video

Sakkari, having just officially qualified for Fort Worth, was not on song in that match, and Pegula won it easily.

Pegula vs Sakkari Head-to-Head

Jessica Pegula
VS
Maria Sakkari
28 (Feb. 24, 1994) Age 27 (July 25, 1995)
Buffalo, NY Birthplace Athens, Greece
5-7 Height 5-8
2 Career WTA Singles Titles 1
No. 3 (Oct. 24, 2022) Career-Best Ranking No. 3 (March 21, 2022)
No. 3 Current Ranking No. 5
$6,280,356 Career Prize Money $7,582,028
42-18 2022 Won/Loss Record 37-22
2 Head-to-Head Wins 3

Only first-timer Daria Kasatkina has lower odds than Sakkari to win the event.

Pegula vs Sakkari Match History

Year Tournament Surface Score Winner
2022 Guadalajara (F) Outdoor Hard 6-2, 6-3 Pegula
2022 Doha (R16) Outdoor Hard 6-4, 7-5 Sakkari
2022 Australian Open (R16) Outdoor Hard 7-6 (0), 6-3 Pegula
2021 Miami Open (R16) Outdoor Hard 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (6) Sakkari
2019 Eastbourne Grass 6-2, 6-1 Sakkari

Pegula has won two of their three meetings this year.

Pegula vs Sakkari Prediction

Sakkari’s edge, if there is one, is that she at least got a taste of the WTA FInals format in her first qualification a year ago. But the conditions were obviously very different – at altitude in Guadalajara, versus indoors in Texas.

Best Bet: Over 22.5 Games (+125)

Jabeur vs Sabalenka Odds

Player Spread Moneyline Total
[2] Ons Jabeur (TUN) -2.5 (+114) -134 O 21.5 (-122)
[7] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) +2.5 (-143) +108 U 21.5 (-105)

Jabeur was an early qualifier for the WTA Finals. She is the -134 in the Jabeur vs Sabalenka odds above tonight.

And, perhaps not coincidentally, she decided to pass on playing the high-level tournaments in San Diego and Guadalajara this month.

YouTube video

The 28-year-old has played just one event since she reached the US Open final nearly two months ago. And that was a one-off tournament in her home country of Tunisia.

Jabeur lost in the quarterfinals to world No. 73 Claire Liu of the US.

She has played indoors just once in the last 12 months – on clay, back in April in Stuttgart.

To say the least, her preparation coming in isn’t conducive to a deep run.

Jabeur vs Sabalenka Head-to-Head

Ons Jabeur
VS
Aryna Sabalenka
28 (Aug. 28, 1994) Age 24 (May 5, 1998)
Ksar El Hellar, Tunisia Birthplace Minsk, Belarus
5-6 Height 5-11
3 Career WTA Singles Titles 10
No. 2 (June 27, 2022) Career-Best Ranking No. 2 (Aug. 23, 2021)
No. 2 Current Ranking No. 7
$8,964,743 Career Prize Money $11,424,910
46-15 2022 Won/Loss Record 30-20
1 Head-to-Head Wins 2

Sabalenka Won Last Two Clashes

It’s not as though Aryna Sabalenka has been playing well; she’s a rather pedestrian 30-20 on the season.

But she has won the last two meetings between the two in straight sets, even if the Belarussian was playing much better tennis in 2021.

Jabeur vs Sabalenka Match History

Year Tournament Surface Score Winner
2021 Wimbledon (QF) Grass 6-4, 6-3 Sabalenka
2021 Abu Dhabi (R16) Outdoor Hard 6-2, 6-4 Sabalenka
2020 French Open (R32) Outdoor Clay 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3 Jabeur

Unlike Jabeur, Sabalenka did play in San Diego and Guadalajara – her first tournaments after deep runs in Cincinnati and at the US Open.

But she was taped up in various places.

Jabeur Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka has played more tennis this fall than Monday WTA Finals opponent Ons Jabeur. But she hasn’t been 100 percent physically. (Photo: Stephanie Myles/Open Court.ca)

And she didn’t make very deep runs; she came back from a set down in her first San Diego match, but lost the second and went out in her Guadalajara opener.

Jabeur vs Sabalenka Prediction

Jabeur missed the WTA Finals a year ago because of injury, while Sabalenka was the No. 1 seed. But she had a rocky week.

It feels as though nerves and rust will dominate but that Sabalenka will feel she can win, on a surface that works better for her than it does for Jabeur.

Best Bet: Sabalenka to win the first set (+105)

 

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