Tennis Betting Tips: More Mboko magic in Montreal

Saturday sees the start of the Canadian Open last 16 in Montreal and Toronto, and I've got a couple of selections from the former for your consideration.

Below are my Saturday Tennis Betting Tips, featuring a reigning Grand Slam champion and a Canadian teenager flying the flag for her country.

Total Games 3 - Over 21.5 in Cori 'Coco' Gauff (USA) vs Victoria Mboko (CAN) @ 1/1

Over 21.5 total games was a winning selection in Thursday's Tennis Betting Tips, as Coco Gauff was taken to three sets by Veronika Kudermetova. The American lost the first set, but roared back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, with a total of 30 games played, which is still fewer than the 35 recorded between her and Danielle Collins in the second round of the Canadian Open, when Gauff triumphed 7-5, 4-6, 7-6.

The 21-year-old has had to do it the hard way in Montreal so far, and it could be another tough slog on Saturday against American-born, Canadian-raised Victoria Mboko, who produced a stunning comeback against Marie Bouzkova on Friday.

Mboko only won one game in the opening set, but sprang to life in the second, and bageled the third, to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. I was watching the match, and quite frankly, held out no hope for the 18-year-old after Bouzkova took six of the first seven games, but credit to the Canadian, who displayed her mental resilience, as well as superb skill and power, to turn the contest on its head.

The third-round victory followed her first two wins of the tournament, a 7-5, 6-3 success against Kimberly Birrell last Sunday, and a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Sofia Kenin on Wednesday.

The teenager gave Gauff a run for her money in their only previous meeting, at the Italian Open in Rome on May 9, winning the first set before falling to a 6-3, 2-6, 1-6 loss. There were 24 games played in that match, and with over 21.5 landing in Mboko's most recent one and Gauff's last two, I'm inclined to back the above selection at EVS on Saturday.

Set Betting - Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 2-0 vs Dayana Yastremska (UKR) @ 4/5

It's been a solid season so far from Elena Rybakina, who hasn't suffered back-to-back defeats since March.

The 26-year-old won the Strasbourg Open in May, reached the last 16 of the French Open in June, advanced to the quarter-finals at the Berlin Open later in the month, and won her first couple of matches at Wimbledon and the Washington Open, making the semi-finals of the latter competition. She won her first two ties in Washington in straight sets, but was edged out by Leylah Fernandez (7-6, 6-7, 6-7) in the final four.

Rybakina hasn't been feeling sorry for herself, though, making her way over to Montreal where she beat Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Canadian Open before knocking out Jaqueline Cristian 6-0, 7-6 in the third.

Remarkably, her last 11 wins have been in straight sets, and on Saturday, she faces an opponent she beat 6-3, 6-4 in their only previous meeting, at the Australian Open on January 18.

Dayana Yastremska has overcome Camila Osorio (3-6, 7-6, 6-2) and Emma Navarro (7-5, 6-4) to reach the last 16 in Montreal, but this match be a step too far for her, with Rybakina in a confident mood and gaining the mental edge following her head-to-head win in Australia earlier this year.

The Kazakhstani's serve was only broken once by Yastremska in Melbourne, and hasn't been broken yet in Montreal, so I see another straight-sets win for her on Saturday.

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