World number 10 Paula Badosa will take on the 32nd-ranked Elise Mertens in the second round of the 2025 WTA Dubai Tennis Championships which will be played on Tuesday, February 18. Get all the Paula Badosa v Elise Mertens predictions, betting tips and odds for this encounter in the section below.
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Paula Badosa v Elise Mertens Head to Head
Badosa and Mertens haven’t faced off before this.
Badosa Eases Past Sun
Following a semifinal appearance at the Australian Open, Paula Badosa wasn’t able to put up a similar showing at either the Abu Dhabi or Doha tournaments over the last couple of weeks.
She had lost to Linda Noskova at the former and after overcoming Renata Zarazua in the first round of the latter, went down to Amanda Anisimova in the second round.
Here, Badosa has started off well albeit against a woefully out of form Lulu Sun. In a match that went on for an hour and 23 minutes, the Spaniard clinched a place in the second round winning 6-3, 6-4.
She now has a tough second round encounter against a player who might be ranked far below her but one who has been winning matches for fun this season.
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Mertens Routs Fernandez
There wasn’t too much to choose between Elise Mertens and Ley Fernandez when they faced off in their first round encounter. Bookmakers had, in fact, tipped Fernandez to edge the contest with offers of 3/4 for her victory.
Mertens is an in-form player though and had already made it to two WTA finals this year. She lost one and defeated Ann Li in the other – at Singapore – to lift the trophy at that one.
And that form showed in the first round here too as she raced away to a 6-2, 6-2 win over her Canadian opponent. That made it 13-3 on win-loss for Mertens, who is slowly making her way back into the top 30.
The Belgian faced four break-points in the encounter but saved all of them even as she got the better of her opponent’s serve on four occasions – and that’s from the 13 opportunities he got.
Can Mertens now stave off the much higher-ranked Badosa?
Badosa v Mertens Prediction
Badosa starts off a 3/5 favourite here and as a semifinalist at the season’s first major you would probably expect that, especially while she is up against a player ranked 20 places behind her. But is the gulf that large, especially when you consider that Badosa has lost to the likes of Ashlyn Krueger, Elina Avanesyan and Linda Noskova at different times during the season so far.
Badosa v Mertens Tips
- Mertens to win a set – Yes: 4/6
- Over 20.5 games in the match: 5/6
