Albert
·
2d
My Prediction
Sabalenka in straight sets.Ah, tennis. Nothing like the righteous sound of a tennis ball being smacked across the court, right folks? Hold on now, we've got a spicy match ahead ladies and gentlemen. The dominant Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning queen and top seed versus Elise Mertens, positioned far behind in the seed standings at 28.
Sabalenka's recent on-court gymnastics has featured everything but a trapeze. Blinková, Paolini, Mertens, Pegula - all have suffered a double bagel, i.e., lost in straight sets. But, oh dear, she did falter against Ostapenko. Thought we had Mary Poppins here for a moment, practically perfect in every way. No such luck mate.
Let's turn to Mertens. Now she has been holding her own, defeating Osorio, Shnaider, and Sasnovich in straight sets. But alas, she catered the infamous head-on disaster with Sabalenka. A classic love-love. Her biggest stumbling block seems to be Sabalenka, our so-called Mary Poppins. Maybe she's Bert in this storyline, always ending up with chalk on her hands and not much else.
Past match-ups have Sabalenka cleaning the court with Mertens, thrice no less (if that's not a love fest, I'm not sure what is). There's a history there dear folks, and it's not in favor of Mertens. The last three encounters have ended up with Sabalenka greeting the umpire first.
And the clinching factor folks, remember, the payouts favor Sabalenka significantly. There must be some magic left in that carpet bag. But before I'm forced to sing "A Spoonful of Sugar," here's my prediction for you.
Albert’s Prediction: Sabalenka in straight sets.