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Elina Svitolina and Simona Halep will face off in the Wimbledon semifinals on Thursday.
Svitolina entered Wimbledon in very poor form, but did well to reach her first ever Grand Slam semifinal. However, no matter how much credit you want to give Elina, fact is she wasn`t particularly impressive. She had an easy draw, and aside Gavrilova in the first round, she had to fight in all her matches. She was a set down when Gasparyan retired in the second round, she lost a set to Sakkari in the third round, beat Martic (6-4 6-2, but match was a bit closer than score suggests) and got a hard fought victory over Muchova.
Halep wasn`t in her best form either entering Wimbledon, and she wasn`t expected to reach this stage given the fact that grass is not her best surface. Indeed, Halep started slowly, struggling against Sasnovich and Buzarnescu (lost set vs the latter). But the Romanian stepped on the gas big time starting with the third round, and put in three top class performances, making relatively light work of Azarenka (6-3 6-1), Gauff (6-3 6-3) and Zhang (7-6 6-1).
Bet on Svitolina v Halep and claim a 100% (100 Eur) welcome bonus at 1XBet now!The H2H is tied at 4-4 (0-0 on grass, 1-0 for Halep in Grand Slams). The last meeting was won this year in Doha by Halep. Grass is the worst surface for both of these surprising semifinalists. However, Halep did have more success on this surface than Svitolina, and this is not the first semifinal for the Romanian here. The slower grass of this year could be the best surface to give her an advantage over Svitolina.
I have not been impressed at all by Svitolina in this tournament, aside from the fact that she managed to grind out matches and reach this stage. She was often in trouble, including in the quarters against a tired Muchova (who played a marathon one day before her match with Svitolina).
Halep on the other hand has improved match by match in this tournament and is looking hot right now. In her last three matches she destroyed Azarenka, expertly put the young Gauff to respect, and took care of Zhang, who is a bad matchup for her.
Halep is playing very solid tennis, her level is better than Svitolina’s right now, and in this match Halep won`t be disadvantaged by the surface, since Svitolina likes grass even less than the Romanian.
Halep’s experience should also come in handy, as she has been on this stage many times before, including at Wimbledon, while Svitolina is a known choker in the later stages of Grand Slams.
My tip will be Halep to win. I admit I was hoping for better odds, and was expecting around 1.60 for Halep here. But I still like Halep at anything above 1.37-1.38. Maybe it`s not the top value I was hoping for, but I remain convinced of Halep’s victory. She`s too consistent for Svitolina, she`s the player in form, the better player overall, and this is definitely her match to lose. Prediction: Elina Svitolina – Simona Halep 7-6 4-6 2-6.
Pick: Halep
Odds: 1.45 @ 1xBet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 4.05
Event date: 11 July
