The weekend has arrived and there’s plenty of meaningful tennis on the slate. We split our four bets yesterday, winning with the favorites and losing with the ‘dogs (favorites won across the board yesterday), so we have a little bit of work to do if we want to match last week’s impressive run. Here are today’s selections:

WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Karolina Pliskova (3.5) vs. Simona Halep (1.3)

Halep, the top seed in this tournament, dropped the first set in her match against Caroline Wozniacki yesterday, but once she found her footing she was simply too much for Wozniacki, winning the final two sets 6-1, 6-1. Halep’s opponent today, Karolina Pliskova, should be able to sympathize with Wozniacki’s predicament: she needs the young Romanian to falter in order to win this match. And based on what we’ve seen out of Halep lately, I’m not sure I like Pliskova’s chances. It’s not that Halep is overpowering– she’s not– but she can place the ball anywhere she wants to on the court, moving her opponents around and dictating points. She has a wide variety of shots, she’s mobile and excels at returning serve… aside from the power element, she really brings it all. She triumphed in Shenzhen a few weeks ago, so a win today would make two tournament titles already in 2015. Pliskova has been playing well over the last few weeks, but she’s simply not on Halep’s level. I know it’s a tough price to swallow, but I wouldn’t bet against the little Romanian. Recommendation: Halep at 1.3

ATP Delray Beach Open

Donald Young (2.2) vs. Bernard Tomic (1.7)

As gamblers, do we ever learn anything from losses? We like to think we do, of course, but how many of us truly change our habits or ways of thinking after a loss? I’ve been forced to ponder these questions while handicapping this Young/Tomic match, because I’ve already handicapped this match and come to a final decision– of course that was last week, and the decision I made– a bet on Tomic–turned out to be wrong. And here we are, just one week later, same players, same surface… and I’m staring at the same information. Look, Tomic should be able to pick up a win here. He’s a young player on the rise who may have what it takes to challenge the very best players in the world in the coming years. Young, meanwhile, is a once-promising prospect whose lack of consistency and on-court maturity have always undermined his considerable athletic gifts. He was plenty “mature” against Tomic last week, though, gutting out a first-set tiebreaker and dropping the second set before pulling out a 7-5 victory in the third. Should that have been enough to change my mind on these two players? A better man, or a better gambler, would probably stay away from this one, but I can’t help myself. If you’ve already stepped in manure, you may as well drop down and bathe in it. Recommendation: Tomic at 1.7

Adrian Mannarino (2.54) vs. Ivo Karlovic (1.52)

Ivo Karlovic has a big reputation and a bigger serve, and the latter has been on full display this week, as Karlovic has not yet been broken in this tournament. The serve is about the only thing keeping the 35-year old Croat afloat these days, though, as the rest of his game is not in top form. He’s been involved in four tiebreakers in his three matches this week, meaning he’s having as much trouble against his opponents’ serves as they are with his. And though he’s been able to skate by over the last three days, he hasn’t been so lucky in recent weeks, suffering an ugly loss to unheralded American Austin Krajicek just 8 days ago. Mannarino has played some beautiful tennis this week, dropping just one set over his three matches and not allowing his opponent to win more than 4 games in any other set. I think he’s got a good chance to pull the minor upset today. Recommendation: Mannarino at 2.54


Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.

Bet via BETDAQ mobile below