{"id":96660,"date":"2026-01-24T00:53:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=96660"},"modified":"2026-01-24T00:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:53:24","slug":"wta-australian-open-best-bets-pegula-vs-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/01\/24\/wta-australian-open-best-bets-pegula-vs-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Australian Open Best Bets Including Jessica Pegula vs Madison Keys"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA Australian Open’s round of 16 kicks off tomorrow evening, and four Americans have made the cut thus far, with two squaring off. All three American players feature in this best bets column. Please share your best bets in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA Australian Open<\/b><\/h2>\n

Gauff <\/b>\u2013 Muchova<\/b>: Time 16:00<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 4-0<\/b><\/p>\n

Coco Gauff vs. Karolina Muchova will be their fifth match. These two have always met with something on the line. Two of their matches were in a final, one was a semifinal at the US Open, and the last was in the United Cup. Outside of importance, the other thing they have in common is that Gauff has won them all. Gauff is coming off a battle against Hailey Baptiste, while Muchova breezed past Magda Linette.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Gauff is about a 1.25-point favorite over Muchova. At 2.81, Muchova might not be the worst idea on a throwaway. I think Gauff will win, and history has proven she will. I also think Gauff has it in her to look past an opponent to her detriment. If you’re not feeling a flier on Muchova, then take Gauff 2:0 at 2.2 on bet365<\/p>\n

That being said, Gauff winning 2:0<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/the best odds: Gauff winning 2:0<\/strong><\/span> @2.2 <\/b>@Bet365<\/b><\/p>\n

Putintseva <\/b>\u2013 Jovic<\/b>: Time 16:00<\/b><\/h4>\n

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

Yulia Putintseva vs Iva Jovic is a first-time meeting of two top 100 players in the World. At just 18, Jovic has already become a force to be reckoned with. She already has a final and a semifinal showing in her two prior tournaments. She’s favored to beat the Kazakh and make the quarterfinals in Australia. Putintseva is 8-3 in 2026, with losses to Emma Navarro, Marta Kostyuk, and Oliva Gadecki.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

Iva Jovic is the favorite for this match, and the odds are about 3-1. The smart play here is taking the under on 21.5 games at 1.8 on bet365. These two have no prior matches, but Putintseva is a fairly average hardcourt player, while Jovic is above average. Another option is taking Jovic 2:0 for 1.83 on bet365. I would take the latter.<\/p>\n

That being said, Jovic winning 2:0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/the best odds: Jovic winning 2:0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@1.83 @bet365<\/b><\/p>\n

Pegula<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>\u2013 Keys: Time 16:00<\/b><\/h4>\n

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

Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys are playing for the fourth time. Keys has the last two victories, including a 2025 WTA Adelaide final and a 2023 US Open round of 16 match. Pegula is 6-1 this year, Keys is 6-2. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Madison Keys is the defending champion at the Australian Open, with two other semifinals, a quarterfinal, and a host of other early-round appearances. Pegula’s only loss this year is to Marta Kostyuk.<\/p>\n

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

The books don’t care much for the fact that Keys is the defending champion or that she’s won the last two matches. They still see Pegula as a .75-point favorite. I think taking Keys straight for 2.4 on Betway is the smart move here. Keys has their last two matches played on a hardcourt and knows how to win on this court. Pegula has never passed the quarterfinal.<\/p>\n

That being said, Keys winning is a value bet for sure<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Value bet\/best odds: Keys winning<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@2.4 @Betway<\/b><\/p>\n

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

The WTA Australian Open’s round of 16 kicks off tomorrow evening, and four Americans have made the cut thus far, with two squaring off. All three American players feature in this best bets column. Please share your best bets in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 WTA Australian Open Gauff \u2013 Muchova: Time 16:00 H2H: 4-0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":63037,"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":[17400,7,4],"tags":[43454,43519,17399,2747,42396,3535,3716,63,15,462],"class_list":["post-96660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-australian-open","category-wta","tag-2026-australian-open","tag-2026-wta-australian-open","tag-best-bets","tag-coco-gauff","tag-iva-jovic","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-karolina-muchova","tag-madison-keys","tag-wta","tag-yulia-putintseva"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96660","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=96660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96663,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96660\/revisions\/96663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}