Tennis best bets and predictions for Saturday, July 26th:
We’re officially on the road to the 2025 US Open. Over the next couple of weeks, some of the top players in the world will be competing in some massive hard-court tournaments. This week, I’m focusing on the action in Washington DC, where the men and women are playing in a 500-level event: the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Keep reading for my tennis best bets for Saturday, July 26th, but make sure you also check out the Pro Picks page. That’s where you’ll find my picks for some of the smaller events — including the random clay-court tournaments.
I do occasionally add picks throughout the day, as I like to see how odds are moving. So, keep checking the picks page every couple of hours if you want more of my action. That’s also where you’ll find picks from Gill Alexander, who does great work handicapping tennis on A Numbers Game. You can watch Gill analyze tennis Monday to Friday from 10:00 am to noon ET. That said, if you like tennis, you might want to consider becoming a VSiN Pro.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts are betting!
2025 Record: 917-889-1 (+47.65 units)
Leylah Fernandez vs. Elena Rybakina
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Ben Shelton
I’m putting a little two-leg parlay in for Saturday, as we have some good matches and there isn’t much value to be had in some of the individual matches. For the first leg, I’m taking Rybakina to handle her business against Fernandez. I’m always a little nervous about going against Fernandez, as she’s a fiery player that tends to win the crowd over. That can get into the heads of her opponents. However, there’s a massive difference in the way these two serve, making it hard to envision her pathway to victory. This is the second consecutive year in which Fernandez has had a hold percentage lower than 70%, and she’s going up against a player with a hold percentage of 80.4%. That’s simply going to be a lot for the Canadian to overcome, especially if she isn’t extremely sharp from the baseline. And she was shaky from the back of the court against Taylor Townsend. She also was a little banged up towards the end.
With the second leg, I’m fading Davidovich Fokina after an absolute war against Taylor Fritz last night. I have all the respect in the world for the Spaniard for finding a way to tough out that win — and find a way back with the American serving for the match and having a 5-3, 30-0 lead in the decider. However, that match was played late into the night, and Davidovich Fokina emptied out the tank to get across the finish line. I’m not sure how much he’ll have left for tonight’s match, and Shelton has been dialed in as a returner this week. When that’s the case, he can be nearly impossible to beat.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if the two players I’m fading today end up retiring.
PARLAY: Rybakina ML & Shelton ML (-152 – I’m taking a worse price to play this at FD in order to get better retirement rules)
Anna Kalinskaya vs. Emma Raducanu
Raducanu is another player that suffered with the conditions on Friday, as she needed the tournament doctors to come out and check her blood pressure towards the end of the second set. Well, if today’s matches end up being played — the forecast calls for rain — it’s going to be hot and humid again. That should give Kalinskaya a pretty big edge when it comes to the physical battle here. However, I wouldn’t only take this because of that. I have simply been floored by the level we have seen from the Russian this week, as she hasn’t yet dropped a set. That’s impressive when considering her last two matches were against Magda Linette and Clara Tauson. The latter has been one of the best hard-court players on tour this year.
When Kalinskaya gets into a groove, she can look the part of a top-10 player in the world. So, the +130 odds are hard to pass up when you also consider that Raducanu isn’t the most consistent player in the world.
I’m also tossing in a small play on Kalinskaya to win the tournament at +650. Given what we’ve seen through three matches, that price seems off when she’s two wins away from getting there.
Bet: Kalinskaya ML (+130) & Kalinskaya to win DC (+650 – 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.
