Garcia Favourite Against Knapp In Mexico

Monterrey`s third seed Caroline Garcia of France takes on Karin Knapp in the first round of the Mexican tournament tomorrow. The seeded player is a 20/1 shout at Coral to pick up the crown following her 29th rank in the world whilst Knapp can be backed at odds of 40/1, available at Skybet, sportingbet and Stan James.

This will be Garcia`s debut in the competition whilst the Italian, who is six years her rival`s senior aged 27, was knocked out in the first round by eventual runner-up Jovana Jaksic last year. That match ended 6-3, 6-4 to the Serbian in spite of the fact that the Brunico-born star carried the number seven seeding.

The two women have met three times on-court in WTA competitions, all of these encounters being staged in 2014. Whilst it is Knapp who holds the balance of power with two victories to the Frenchwoman`s one, the score is tied one a-piece should you only take into account those clashes that have been held on hard court surfaces.

Garcia`s only win against her opponent tomorrow came in the first round of last year`s Rogers Cup, the match needing to go to a third set following Knapp`s victory in a tie-break in the second set. The Saint-Germain-en-Laye-born 21-year-old grabbed the opener by six games to two before sealing her progression through to the second stage with a 6-1 triumph in the third.

Garcia would exit the tournament at the next stage, being seen off by number seven seed Angelique Kerber of Germany in straight sets (6-4, 6-1).

Ladbrokes have 10/3 on the French right-hander winning the match 2-1 whilst odds of 13/2 (bet365, paddy Power) says that she will win the first set by 6-2 once again. There are odds of 12/5 on their being another tie-break in the match. These odds can be picked up at bet365. Otherwise, 3/10 with the same bookmaker says that there will not be any need for a tie-break.

Knapp also needed three sets to see off her opponent in the quarter-finals in Nurnberg on clay. It looked as though Garcia may well have earned herself another victory as she captured the first set on a tie-break but her rival managed to take the match to a third following a 6-4 victory in the second. The one-time WTA title winner also picked up the closing set 6-4 to secure victory.

The Italian would be knocked out of the tournament at the semi-final stage, failing to get past Eugenie Bouchard (6-4, 6-3).

Bet365 have the best price on a Knapp 2-1 victory at 5/1 though you can obtain odds of 6/4 (ladbrokes) should you think that the encounter will go to three sets for the third time in four encounters.

The third time in four encounters because Knapp took the victory in straight sets in Doha back on hard. She picked up the first set by six games to four before only dropping one game in the whole of the closing set. A Knapp victory without dropping a set is somewhat likely at 4/1 with ladbrokes.

That was a first round clash in the 2014 Qatar Total Open with the victor only making it through to the second round after a defeat at the hands of eventual semi-finalist Jelena Jankovic.

With all this taken into consideration, it is the third seed who is the favourite to tie the pairs head-to-head record by taking tomorrow afternoon`s match-up. She can be backed at 1/2 with sportingbet, Stan James and william hill.

Betvictor have the best price on the outsider pulling off an upset, that price being 9/5.

Go To bet365

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02/03/2015     © Frixo 2024