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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s now time for the round of 16 at WTA Austin. The field is wide open after Jessica Pegula withdrew due to an injury. We chose the matches most likely to live up to their potential. As such, we have three different best bets to choose from based on those matches. Please share your thoughts on our choices in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
WTA Austin
\nJuvan \u2013 Stearns: Time 11:00<\/p>\n
H2H: 0-0<\/p>\n
Kaja Juvan vs. Peyton Stearns will be their first meeting. Juvan is primarily a clay court player and is coming off a 52-20 overall record with two WTA titles and three overall titles in 2025. That same year, Stearns finished two games below .500 overall, going 19-21. Stearns has not won a title since 2024, and that\u2019s the only WTA title she\u2019s ever won. She might be a slightly more experienced hardcourt player, but that\u2019s not her only strength when she\u2019s on her game.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Best Bet to Make<\/p>\n
Peyton Stearns is the favorite in this match, and I completely agree. Stearns is 6-6 in 2026, but Juvan is only 2-3 overall. The books see the odds at 2.5-1.5 in favor of Stearns, on average. The odds against Juvan seem to be going higher by as much as .15 on one site, though that does appear to be an outlier. Another option is to take the over\/under on 21.5 games, as both hover at 1.9 or higher. Keep in mind the under on 2.5 sets, at its highest, is 1.55 on Betway. Stearns straight up only tops out at 1.58 on 1xBet.<\/p>\n
That being said, Under 21.5 games\u00a0is a value bet for sure.<\/p>\n
Value bet\/the best odds: Under 21.5 games\u00a0@1.9 @10Bet<\/p>\n
Birrell \u2013 Dolehide: Time 12:30<\/p>\n
H2H: 0-1<\/p>\n
Carolina Dolehide vs Kimberly Birrell is only the second time these two have played. The last time they met was in 2017 in the round of 16 at ITF Winnipeg. Dolehide took that match in three sets. While Dolehide\u2019s career has gone downhill, Birrell has had four straight 40-win seasons heading into 2026. Dolehide is having a positive start to 2026 at 5-1, and she reached the quarterfinals here at WTA Austin last year. Birrell is 8-5 overall and made the semifinals at WTA Adelaide in 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Best Bet to Make<\/p>\n
Right now, the books have Kimberly Birrell as a favorite by about .25 points, on average. It reaches its highest at .37 on Betfair. The lowest you can find Dolehide straight up is 2.0 on Ladbrokes and Coral. One positive for Dolehide is that she is on a three-match win streak, but Birrell has won four of her last five matches, with her only loss coming to Elena Rybakina. Birrell has made significant improvements to her game since they last met. I cannot say the same for Dolehide.<\/p>\n
That being said, Birrell winning\u00a0is a value bet for sure.<\/p>\n
Value bet\/the best odds: Birrell\u00a0winning\u00a0@1.77 @Pinnacle<\/p>\n
Tomljanovic \u2013 Jovic: Time 16:00<\/p>\n
H2H: 0-0<\/p>\n
Our featured match is the first time Ajla Tomljanovic and Iva Jovic have ever met. Tomljanovic is 4-3 in 2026, and she\u2019s also nearly 15 years younger than Jovic. Jovic is 14-4 in 2026, reaching the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. She\u2019s yet to win her first title of the year, but she won three titles last year, two of them were at the WTA level.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Best Bet to Make<\/p>\n
The books have Jovic dominating this match. There\u2019s not much to be made taking Jovic straight up, nor is there much value in a correct score bet. Your best bet is taking the under on 19.5 games at 1.95 on four different sites. This seems to be the cutline for the over\/under on total games played. If it makes you feel better, the under on 2.5 sets is only 1.4 at the highest, so they clearly don\u2019t see this one going three sets.<\/p>\n
That being said, Under 19.5 games is a value bet for sure.<\/p>\n
Value bet\/the best odds: Under 19.5 games\u00a0@1.95 @Coral<\/p>\n
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey\u2013USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s now time for the round of 16 at WTA Austin. The field is wide open after Jessica…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[224916,66315,127691,224156,56182,11540,142863,23995,99,428,654,223860],"class_list":{"0":"post-491042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-2026-wta-austin","9":"tag-ajla-tomljanovic","10":"tag-best-bets","11":"tag-caroline-dolehide","12":"tag-iva-jovic","13":"tag-kaja-juvan","14":"tag-kimberly-birrell","15":"tag-peyton-stearns","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-tennis","18":"tag-wta","19":"tag-wta-austin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}