Tennis Best Bets: Picks and predictions for Saturday, February 21

The ATP and WTA Tours are currently in full swing, as the women are playing a 1000-level event in Dubai and the men are competing in 500-level tournaments in Doha and Rio de Janeiro — and the field in the Delray Beach 250 also happens to be loaded. With that in mind, we have a lot to cover over the next couple of days. I’ll be writing up my tennis best bets from Monday to Friday, then I’ll post my championship picks on the VSiN Pro Picks page on Sunday. That said, keep reading for my tennis best bets for Saturday, February 21.

NOTE: Gill Alexander, host of A Numbers Game, posts a bunch of tennis plays to the VSiN picks page. He does a great job handicapping tennis. That page is also where I post all of my Challenger-level picks + plays for all of the tournaments I’m not writing up daily.

Elina Svitolina vs. Jessica Pegula – Dubai

Styles make fights in tennis, which is why I liked Svitolina to beat Coco Gauff. I knew that Svitolina’s grinding baseline game, plus elite returning, could get to Gauff, who is struggling as a server and can still rack up errors from the forehand wing. Well, that match ended up being a three-hour war, with Svitolina struggling to step on Gauff’s throat in the second set. Then, in the third set, she was able to find a way across the finish line.

Svitolina must now quickly turn around and find a way to do it all again, and I think she’ll have some problems against Pegula. It’s just hard not to like that Pegula is a much better server than Gauff, and there’s a little more overall steadiness to her game. Sure, she doesn’t have the same athleticism and upside as Gauff, but that’s not what she needs here. The winner of this match will be the player that stays calm in key moments, racks up some easy holds, and avoids making a ton of mistakes. That should be Pegula, who is 5-3 against Svitolina her career — and was only on court for two hours last match, plus had the luxury of playing earlier in the day.

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Bet: Pegula ML (-160 – 1.5 units)

Sebastian Korda vs. Flavio Cobolli – Delray Beach

Korda is clearly enjoying being back in Florida, and his win over Casper Ruud was very impressive. When the American is rolling like this, he can be very tough to beat. Right now, the serve looks reliable, the forehand is doing as much damage as the strong backhand, and he’s not falling apart mentally when things start to go poorly. However, despite all of that, I don’t understand the odds on this match.

I know Cobolli isn’t playing well this season, but he has still found a way to reach this point in the tournament. And it’s only a matter of time before he puts these struggles behind him, as he’s just far too talented to stay down for long. Well, who’s to say that Cobolli won’t get it going on Saturday?

Realistically, Cobolli has the firepower to push Korda around from the back of the court. He just has to have a decent day as a server in order to stay in this match. But the same can also be said for Korda. If he’s not hitting his spots, it’s going to be hard for him to run away with this one.

I’ll also note that Korda might be 2-0 in this head-to-head series, but Cobolli won a set in both of the losses. He can absolutely hang around here.

Bet: Cobolli +1.5 Sets (-125 – 1.5 units) & Cobolli ML (+250 – 0.5 units)

Added Plays

I usually have A LOT MORE on the Pro Picks page. Those plays count towards my record and have been a big part of my success this season. Make sure you check them out. I’ll probably add a few more over there, so refresh that page throughout the day if you’re looking for action.