Tennis Betting Tips: Dart to miss the mark in second US Open qualifier

I'm back with Wednesday's Tennis Tips, and today, we're heading to Queens, New York City, and Cleveland, Ohio, for our two selections.

Check them out below, and if you combine them in a double, you can get odds of 10.05/1. Not too shabby...

Set Betting - Ayana Akli (USA) 2-0 vs Harriet Dart (GBR) @ 12/5

Harriet Dart upset the odds against Anca Alexia Todoni in her first US Open qualifier on Tuesday, beating the Romanian 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 to break out of a six-match losing streak that began on June 11. The 29-year-old had lost 13 of her previous 14 ties, so this win over Tondoni marked a huge moment for the Brit.

Victory may have come at a cost, though, as the match lasted a whopping three hours and 24 minutes. The first set was six minutes shy of an hour, but the second and third went to tiebreaks and lasted 80 minutes and 70 minutes, respectively.

I watched some of the match, and there were some blood-curdling screams from Dart's end, particularly in the second set, as she feared she was in danger of losing control of the contest. Even her mother, Susie, who has coached her daughter on occasion, was seen walking out at one point, before returning to her seat.

Dart has to be congratulated for regaining her composure and knocking Todoni out, but it was a mentally and physically gruelling encounter for the World No. 225, who must recover quickly for her next qualifier on Wednesday against Ayana Akli, who eventually eased to a straight-sets success against Eva Vedder (7-5, 6-2) in her opening match.

The American has built up some momentum after winning four of her last five ties, the first three of which were in Landisville, Pennsylvania, during the first half of the month.

Her last six victories have been in straight sets, and her last three defeats have been against opponents currently ranked 138th or higher.

Akli is ranked 284th, 59 places below Dart, but the 24-year-old has every chance of beating the Brit on Wednesday. Given Dart's taxing first qualifier, this could even be over in two sets.

Match Betting - Jil Teichmann (SUI) to beat Sorana Cirstea (ROM) @ 9/4

Over in Cleveland, Sorana Cirstea and Jil Teichmann face off in the last 16 of the Cleveland Open, with the winner advancing to the quarter-finals, where they will play either Liudmila Samsonova or Yafan Wang.

Cirstea lost her first match of this North American hard-court swing, suffering a straight-sets defeat to Lulu Sun (3-6, 5-7) in Montreal, but she's won six of her last seven, only losing to six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the last 16 of the Cincinnati Open, a competition the Pole went on to win.

The Romanian came through two rounds of qualifying in Cleveland before beating Moyuka Uchijima (6-4, 6-1) in the first round on Monday, but that was her Japanese counterpart's 10th consecutive defeat - nine in straight sets - so that's probably not a great indicator of where she's at right now.

The 35-year-old's next opponent, Jil Teichmann, beat Lois Boisson (6-4, 1-6, 6-4) on Monday in her first hard-court match since March 4. She's won 12 of her 15 contests on the surface this calendar year, and heads into Wednesday's tie with a 100% record against Cirstea (4-0).

Teichmann beat Cirstea (6-4, 6-3) on clay at the Tiriac Open in Bucharest on July 19, adding to a hat-trick of hard-court victories over her, the first of which was indoor at the Linz Open in October 2018 (6-4, 6-2). The second was at the Cincinnati Open in August 2021 (6-2, 6-0), and the third at the Doha Open in February 2023 (6-4, 6-3).

Cirstea may be in terrific form, but she's been unable to plot a way past the Swisswoman in four previous head-to-heads, failing to even win a set, making Teichmann fantastic value to triumph on Wednesday at 9/4. A 2-0 victory is tempting at 5/1, but I won't be greedy and will instead just back Teichmann to win by any means.

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