Tennis Betting Tips: Rybakina to show her quality at Queen’s

Day four at Queen's introduces 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to the fold and she faces homegrown star Heather Watson. This game features in my Tennis Betting Tips for Thursday, while I also take a look at two of the other matches on offer in West Kensington.

Check them out below.

Under 18.5 games - Heather Watson vs Elena Rybakina @ 5/4

Britain's Watson performed well in qualifying and this momentum carried her through against Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva in straight sets in the first round. She now faces a much sterner test in fellow Kazakh star Rybakina, who is currently the world number 12.

Rybakina should be more refreshed for this contest, having received a bye in the first round, so this could work against Watson. The Brit has her work cut out for her against a former Grand Slam champion who has been in good form of late - picking up a clay-court title in Strasbourg ahead of a run to the fourth round at Roland Garros.

On paper this is a very uneven match up and I think this should be a routine exercise for Rybakina. Watson will try to put up a fight but I don't think it will be a match for her opponent's strong grass-court game.

But seeing as there is no betting value in sets, I'm turning to under 18.5 games at 5/4 - which I think could be a shrewd selection in this match.

Set Betting - Diana Shnaider to beat Katie Boulter 2-1 @ 3/1

Britain's current number one star, Katie Boulter is in need of improvement if she is to progress far in this tournament. She endured some nervy moments in her last match against Ajla Tomljanovic and she can consider herself rather fortunate she made her way through that match.

Boulter cannot approach her contest against Diana Shnaider in the same way. Shnaider appears to be making a smooth transition onto grass from clay. Her aggressive baseline game can ask questions of the homegrown star, particularly if she can exploit Boulter's frail second serve (she had nine double faults in the last match).

Boulter is in her element on grass, though, and she is going to be backed by the crowd, so this is a test Shnaider didn't experience last time out. This match looks to be a tough task for both players but I think Shnaider can cause an upset and prevail in three sets.

She won the only previous meeting between the pair in Hong Kong last year, which was accomplished in straight sets. The grass should help Boulter, so I think this one will go the distance.

Set Betting - Emma Raducanu to beat Rebecca Sramkova 2-1 @ 3/1

Former British number one Emma Raducanu is also in action at Queen's on Thursday and she will face Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova. Raducanu caught the eye in the first round with her straight sets victory over Cristina Bucsa.

She demonstrated her aggressive game on grass and she looks to be in a rhythm, something she has struggled to maintain on a consistent basis since her shock US Open triumph back in 2021.

If she plays like she did on Tuesday, I think she will progress against Sramkova, but the Slovak can make her work for the victory. Despite not having much pedigree on grass, she bested reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets. Forgetting Krejcikova is building her way back from a six-month injury, this was an impressive result for Sramkova.

Some will try to say it was an anomaly but she played some strong tennis and for that reason I think she can take Raducanu to a deciding set.

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