Tennis best bets for the Italian Open – Friday, May 12th
The Italian Open, also known as Internazionali BNL d’Italia, is a 1000-level clay-court tournament for both the men and the women. This is one of the most exciting tournaments of the entire year, and we’ll have best bets for it on a daily basis. With that in mind, keep reading for our tennis best bets for Friday, May 12th. Also, make sure you actively check out our Pro Picks page, as we have been posting plays there regularly throughout the year. We ended up having a very profitable two weeks in Madrid, with a lot of the winners being posted to that page. We’re hoping to keep it up in the last big event before the French Open.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have
Roman Safiullin vs. Sebastian Korda
Safiullin went through qualifiers to get into this main draw, and he then beat Marcos Giron in his opening-round match. That was a very solid win for Safiullin, who happens to be a very decent player. Of course, if Korda was in form coming into this match, the American would be an easy bet to go through here. However, Korda is coming off a major injury to his wrist, and this is just his second match since hurting it at the Australian Open. That first match was quite miserable, too. He lost 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) to Hugo Grenier and he didn’t look like himself there.
With Korda not yet near 100% health, it just makes a lot of sense to back Safiullin. There’s a reason he’s a favorite against the 29th-ranked player in the world, so we’re rolling with it and backing the Russian.
Bet: Safiullin ML (-135)
Ons Jabeur vs. Paula Badosa
Jabeur is one of the best players in the world, which is why she’s the seventh-ranked player in the WTA rankings. However, the Tunisian had to retire with a calf injury in Stuttgart a couple of weeks ago, and she then withdrew from Madrid. With that in mind, Jabeur isn’t exactly healthy right now, and she hasn’t played a match in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Badosa is coming off a nice run in Madrid, where she won two matches and then lost a competitive match against Maria Sakkari. Badosa then came over to Rome and earned a comeback win over Anna-Lena Friedsam in her opening match.
Badosa is one of the best clay-court players in the world, and she’s also one of the best players on the planet, in general. It has just taken Badosa some time to prove herself as an elite player again. But with Badosa in good form, it’s hard not to love her chances of beating Jabeur on her favorite surface. She’s actually 3-1 in four career meetings with Jabeur, and one of those victories came on the clay in Stuttgart last year.
Bet: Badosa -2.5 Games (-120)