Will Maria cause the next sensation?
The year 2022 brings some innovations to the All England Tennis Championships at Church Road. The abolition of the points system was not voluntary, but this year the grass-court classic will do without the match-free “Middle Sunday”. As a result, there will also no longer be a “Manic Monday” with all the round of 16 matches. The first quarter-finalists will already be determined on Sunday – among others with the duel between Tatjana Maria and Jelena Ostapenko.
After Oscar Otte and Angelique Kerber conceded clear defeats on Friday, only two German women are still represented in the singles competition. A situation with mixed feelings for Tennisclub Bredeney 1929 from Essen, as Maria’s (and Julie Niemeier’s) run of success means the 1st Bundesliga leaders will have to do without their two top players for Saturday’s away match against Team Ladival TC Bad Vilbel. The appearance in a GS round of 16 is a premiere not only for Niemeier, but also for veteran Maria.
The mother of two is considered a heavy underdog on Sunday. The bookmakers are offering betting odds of over 4.00 for the German between Tatjana Maria and Jelena Ostapenko, while a win for the Latvian is only rewarded with odds of around 1.20.
Tatjana Maria – Statistics & current form
At the age of 34, Tatjana Maria is no longer one of the future hopes in German tennis. Nevertheless, the Austrian Eurosport expert Barbara “Babsi” Schett described the German as an inspiration for many tennis players. Praise that is definitely justified. Tatjana Maria, formerly Malek, has a best world ranking of 43rd in 2018. Currently, she can even be found outside the top 100 and yet her achievements are absolutely remarkable.
15 months after birth to greatest career success
She already interrupted her career in 2013 due to the birth of her first child. Top-class sport combined with being a mum is a big challenge, which Maria has always mastered in recent years. Between August 2020 and July 2021, Maria took another break, her second birth was due.
Despite her advanced age for a professional, she once again accepted the hardships of the comeback and has been in very strong shape ever since. In 2022, Maria can look back on a very good record of 34 wins and 16 losses. In April, she celebrated her second WTA title in Bogota, Colombia.
At Grand Slam level, successes have been few and far between. Before the current All England Tennis Championships, Maria only made it past the second round once (Wimbledon 2015). The first round win against Astra Sharma was also the first GS win since the 2018 US Open, followed by a success against Sorana Cirstea before the Bad Salgauer managed the big sensation.
Against Maria Sakkari, the world number five, the German celebrated a surprising victory in two sets. In the second set she turned a 2:5 deficit into a 7:5 and thus fixed her biggest career success. Her love for lawn tennis is clearly visible. Offensive play may not be Maria’s style, but her extremely low error count is her great strength. In the GS round of 16 between Maria and Ostapenko, a prediction on the German is risky, but Maria has shown that she can also manage the really big score.
Jelena Ostapenko – Statistics & current form
In 2017, Jelena Ostapenko celebrated her greatest career success on the clay court of Roland Garros. As a 20-year-old at the time, all doors were open to her, but the Latvian was only able to confirm these achievements in phases in the following years. As the current world number 17, she is still among the world’s top tennis players, but her biggest problem is consistency.
Faltering performances are the order of the day
The words “patience” or “safety” are not to be found in Jelena Ostapenko’s vocabulary. The 25-year-old loves to take risks, and on a good day she can use them to sweep spectators off their feet. However, her style of play is an extremely fine line, because there are always games in which one mistake follows the next.
Tatjana Maria will certainly not be able to hold a candle to her in that respect, but the few mistakes made by the German could be just the thing to get Ostapenko off her guard. As long as Maria returns a lot of balls, Ostapenko will increase the risk from rally to rally. Of course, this increases the possibility of an easy mistake enormously.
The fast grass surface certainly suits a player like Ostapenko. Not for nothing did she reach the final of the preparatory tournament in Mallorca (losing to Petra Kvitova) and has celebrated three clear victories in the tournament so far. After two 2:0 wins, the success against the Romanian rIrina-Camelia Begu was never in danger despite losing a set. The favourite won the second and third sets 6-1.
In the round of 16 clash between Tatjana Maria and Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian is the obvious bet, but due to Maria’s lack of consistency and strong performance, at least a bet in the direction of a game handicap in favour of the German is a good option.
Tatjana Maria – Jelena Ostapenko Direct comparison / H2H balance
Head to Head: 0:0
In the round of 16 at the legendary Church Road, 34-year-old Tatjana Maria and 25-year-old Jelena Ostapenko will face each other for the first time on the WTA Tour.
Tatjana Maria – Jelena Ostapenko Tip
The fact that no world ranking points will be awarded at Wimbledon in 2022 is a huge shame for Tatjana Maria’s run of success. However, her first run of success at a GS tournament is at least financially worthwhile. The Latvian is now a grass court specialist and yet the German will not be completely without a chance. Victory is unlikely, but so is a clear defeat. The betting between Maria and Ostapenko could therefore be over 20.5 games.
Especially as Jelena Ostapenko can swing between genius and madness in a match. This should definitely give Maria chances to make the match tighter than the betting odds suggest. The best betting option between Maria and Ostapenko is considered to be the forecast on Maria +4.5 Games at interesting odds of over 2.00.
