WTA Toronto - Pliskova vs. Andreescu

Good start with the Brady handicap

Briefly recapping my first tip on here, the +1.5 set handicap on Brady was a winner. As predicted, Halep pretty much struggled to get into the match, leading to a quick 3-0 in favor of Brady. After that, the Wimbledon champion became a bit more consistent before losing her serve for a second time at 4-5 which already won us our bet.

Halep eventually won the match 4-6 7-5 7-6, but with Brady being two points away from victory and even winning three points more in the match, we have definitely been on the right side.

Canada's rising star back on tour

Let's move on to the quarterfinals of Toronto now where we have Canada's biggest tennis hope (on the women's side) Bianca Andreescu facing the WTA #3 in Karolina Pliskova.

The 19-year-old Canadian is playing her first tournament after retiring in Miami and withdrawing at Roland Garros, where she showed up injured. So without having any expectations, Andreescu did really well in reaching the quarterfinal here, beating compatriot Bouchard, Kasatkina and Bertens.

Pliskova a much tougher test

In all three of her matches, Andreescu had to go three sets, with everyone of them being a thriller. She did improve from match to match, but playing four matches in four days after getting back from injury is a tough task.

Karolina Pliskova on the other side had to play one match less and, as usual, was looking confident on serve. When her first serve was in, she won the point 81% of the time in her first two matches against Riske and Kontaveit. Andreescu might be a better returner than the two mentioned before, but it will be tough for her to get a grasp of the Czech's serve. In yesterday's match, Bertens, who improved her serve as well over the years, only managed to get 53% first serves into play and ended up losing the match on two consecutive double faults. Pliskova on the contrary should offer much more on serve today.

World #1 on the line

The former world #1 is bidding for that place in the sun again after Ash Barty went out early in round two. I don't expect Andreescu, who was looking a bit hampered after all yesterday, to get into too many of Pliskova's service games. The Canadian crowd did cheer her up against Kasatkina and Bertens, but a solid looking Pliskova is another level.

It would take another big fight from the up-and-coming talent to keep this close. You cannot rule her out completely, but I think this will be one match too many after just coming back from injury. Therefore, 3.5 games looks like a handicap Pliskova should cover if she continues to carry her current form into this match.