{"id":98587,"date":"2026-02-24T23:47:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=98587"},"modified":"2026-02-24T23:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:47:58","slug":"wta-austin-best-bets-rakhimova-vs-selekhmeteva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/02\/24\/wta-austin-best-bets-rakhimova-vs-selekhmeteva\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Austin Best Bets Including Kamilla Rakhimova vs Oksana Selekhmeteva"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s now time for the round of 16 at WTA Austin. The field is wide open, and there have already been upsets. We have the opening three matches picked out for you, as LWOS tried to pick bets from the matches scheduled for play later tomorrow. Please share your thoughts on our choices in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA Austin<\/b><\/h2>\n

Masarova <\/b>\u2013 Osuigwe<\/b>: Time 10:00<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0-1<\/b><\/p>\n

Whitney Osuigwe vs Rebeka Masarova is the first match of the round. The two last met in their only other match to date in 2022 at ITF Bendigo 2 in the first round, which Osuigwe won in a two-set tiebreak. Osuigwe has managed to get in a tournament on a hardcourt, a clay court, and indoors in 2026. She’s 11-5 overall. Masarova hasn’t won a tour since 2022, and this is the first time either has played in this tournament.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The books have Masarova as the favorite, and I agree with the call. Osuigwe is 106-106 overall on a hardcourt. She wins as often as she loses. In fact, the only surface on which she has a winning record is clay at 113-74 overall. Masarova might not be amazing on a hardcourt, but she does have a winning record at 91-58 overall. There’s also the slight fact that she’s a 3-1 favorite.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Masarova\u00a0winning 2:0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@1.95 <\/b>@bwin<\/b><\/p>\n

Bartunkova <\/b>\u2013 Townsend<\/b>: Time 11:30<\/b><\/p>\n

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

Nikola Bartunkova vs Taylor Townsend will be the first time these two have ever played. Townsend is nearly ten years Bartunkova’s senior. For all of Townsend’s matches played, this will only be the third time she’s ever played at WTA Austin, though she made the round of 16 in 2024. Bartunkova is just 19 years old, but she’s coming off a 2025 where she went 57-19 with three tournament titles. She made six finals, two semifinals, and three quarterfinals among her accomplishments in 2025.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

It shouldn’t come as any surprise, but Bartunkova is the favorite in this match. The average odds are about 2.16-1.67 in favor of Bartunkova. I would take Bartunkova straight up for 1.73 on William Hill because the books are divided on how this match will play out. While most books are 1.57 or lower for the under on 2.5 sets, the lowest you can get on Bartunkova 2:0 is 2.5 on any site. Why mess around with the specifics when you can generalize and cash out?<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Bartunkova\u00a0winning<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@1.73 @WilliamHill<\/b><\/p>\n

Rakhimova <\/b>\u2013 <\/b>Selekhmeteva<\/b>: Time 10:00<\/b><\/h4>\n

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

Kamilla Rakhimova vs Oksana Selekhmeteva is our featured match. These two are in the top 95 of the World rankings. This will be their fourth overall meeting, with Rakhimova winning the first two and Selekhmeteva winning the last match. Every match has been played on a different surface, but this will be their second hardcourt match. Outside of their round-of-16 match on a clay court at WTA Antalya 2 in 2025, every match has been won in straight sets.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The books have Rakhimova as a slight favorite, but I do not agree. Selekhmeteva is not only coming off a better 2025, but she’s also playing better in 2026. Selekhmeteva also won two tournaments in 2025, while Rakhimova only took home one. At 2.2 on several sites, including Betfair, Selekhmeteva can be had straight up. You’re going to more than double your bet by taking the woman in better form, which seems like a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Selekhmeteva<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0winning <\/strong><\/span>@2.2 <\/b>@Betway<\/b><\/p>\n

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

It’s now time for the round of 16 at WTA Austin. The field is wide open, and there have already been upsets. We have the opening three matches picked out for you, as LWOS tried to pick bets from the matches scheduled for play later tomorrow. Please share your thoughts on our choices in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":59998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[17400,4],"tags":[43574,12545,43576,16946,16695,58,2769,15,18671],"class_list":["post-98587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-wta","tag-2026-wta-austin","tag-kamilla-rakhimova","tag-nikola-bar","tag-oksana-selekhmeteva","tag-rebeka-masarova","tag-taylor-townsend","tag-whitney-osuigwe","tag-wta","tag-wta-austin"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98587","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=98587"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98589,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98587\/revisions\/98589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}