{"id":104948,"date":"2026-05-18T00:24:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T04:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=104948"},"modified":"2026-05-18T00:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T04:24:25","slug":"wta-french-open-hontama-preston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/05\/18\/wta-french-open-hontama-preston\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA French Open Qualifying Best Bets Including Mai Hontama vs Taylah Preston"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA French Open women\u2019s qualifying tournament begins. These matches won\u2019t receive the same attention that the main draw of the tournament will get, but these are huge moments for tour professionals. Getting into the main draw of a major tournament means a bigger paycheck and an opportunity to make a huge gain in the rankings. A lot of players are pursuing money, points, and the important opportunity to be able to directly qualify for smaller tournaments later this season and in the future. These are season-defining moments for many of the players involved. LWOS has our best bets for three matches. Post your best bets and thoughts in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA French Open qualifying<\/b><\/h2>\n

Jim\u00e9nez Kasintseva \u2013 Pridankina: Time 12:00 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 1-2<\/b><\/p>\n

Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva takes on Elena Pridankina in French Open qualifying. Jimenez Kasintseva is ranked roughly 100 spots higher than Pridankina, and recent results reflect that. Whereas Pridankina has exclusively played lower-level tournaments in recent weeks, Jimenez Kasintseva reached the main draw of the 1,000-point tournament in Madrid and won a match in Rome qualifying before losing in the second round. Jimenez Kasintseva will now try to build on what she has done and reach the main draw at the French Open.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Jimenez Kasintseva has played in bigger tournaments against better players in recent weeks. She is definitely more battle-tested. She is clearly the higher-ranked player. There is nothing that clearly suggests that Pridankina is ready to win this match. Jimenez Kasintseva should be able to take control of this match and remain in control. She should be able to win decisively.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Jimenez Kasintseva winning 2:0 is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Jimenez Kasintseva winning 2:0 @1.86 @Betfair<\/b><\/p>\n

Hontama \u2013 Preston: Time 12:00 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0\u20132<\/b><\/p>\n

Mai Hontama faces Taylah Preston in Paris. Preston is 2-0 in the head-to-head. We don\u2019t always mention the head-to-head, but in this case, it is worth noting because both of the meetings happened earlier this year and are therefore recent. Preston is 80 spots higher than Hontama in the WTA rankings. Both players are 3-3 in their last six matches. Preston played two matches at the Paris 125 WTA event, one in qualifying, which she won, and one match in the main draw, which she lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Preston has played better competition in recent weeks. Playing in the Paris 125 event exposed her to stronger opponents than those Hontama has faced at the ITF challenger level. Preston owns two head-to-head wins over Hontama this season and is familiar with Hontama\u2019s game. The information available for this match, and how these two players stack up against each other, points to a Preston win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Preston winning is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Preston winning @1.60 @Betfair<\/b><\/p>\n

Bulgaru \u2013 Guo: Time 12:00 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0\u20130<\/b><\/p>\n

Miriam Bulgaru takes on Hanyu Guo. Bulgaru enters this match having lost eight matches in a row and nine out of her last 10. Guo enters this match on a three-match losing streak, but before that three-match skid, she had won three matches in a row. Guo is 3-3 in her last six matches, 4-4 in her last eight, and 5-5 in her last 10. Bulgaru will try to break her long losing streak. Doing so at the French Open would be especially satisfying for her if she can pull it off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Bulgaru\u2019s eight-match losing streak is hard to ignore when looking at this match from a betting standpoint. Guo is not playing great, but she has been a break-even player over her last 10 matches, so while she is not getting high marks, she isn\u2019t collapsing either. Guo is definitely the choice. Guo winning in straight sets offers a very good price, so you should go with that as your play.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Guo winning 2:0 is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Guo winning 2:0 @1.95 @1xBet<\/b><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WTA French Open women\u2019s qualifying tournament begins. These matches won\u2019t receive the same attention that the main draw of the tournament will get, but these are huge moments for tour professionals. Getting into the main draw of a major tournament means a bigger paycheck and an opportunity to make a huge gain in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":67873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17400,5,4],"tags":[43754,17399,42593,43204,16876,19037,17769,10650,15,2873],"class_list":["post-104948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-french-open","category-wta","tag-2026-wta-rome","tag-best-bets","tag-elena-pridankina","tag-hanyu-guo","tag-mai-hontama","tag-miriam-bulgaru","tag-taylah-preston","tag-victoria-jimenez-kasintseva","tag-wta","tag-wta-rome"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104949,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104948\/revisions\/104949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}