{"id":98628,"date":"2026-02-26T00:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=98628"},"modified":"2026-02-26T00:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:39:08","slug":"wta-merida-best-bets-zhang-vs-navarro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/02\/26\/wta-merida-best-bets-zhang-vs-navarro\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA M\u00e9rida Best Bets Including Shuai Zhang vs Emma Navarro"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA M\u00e9rida round of 16 continues, and the lines are pretty solid. Like yesterday, we grabbed whatever competitive matches we could and put together a best bets article for you. Did you make any money from our bets yesterday? Some hit, and some didn’t. Please share your thoughts on our choices in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA M\u00e9rida<\/b><\/h2>\n

Li <\/b>\u2013 Sonmez<\/b>: Time 13:30<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0-1<\/b>.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ann Li and Zeynep Sonmez will play for the second time in their career. Their last meeting was the 2024 final right here at WTA M\u00e9rida, which Sonmez won in straight sets, losing only three total games. So far in 2026, Li is 4-5 overall and hasn’t won more than two matches in a row. Sonmez is 7-5, but her first-round win here snapped a four-match losing streak going back to the second round of the Australian Open.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The books see Li as the favorite, presumably on the back of her hardcourt experience. With 269 total matches played, Li has 159 victories on a hardcourt. I know many of the books favor Li, but I think Sonmez is ready to win here. Sonmez is also slightly more efficient in her tennis, which is why she has a slightly higher winning percentage. I’ll take Sonmez straight up at 2.1 on bet365.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Sonmez winning <\/strong><\/span>@2.1 <\/b>@bet365<\/b><\/p>\n

Bouzas Maneiro <\/b>\u2013 Frech<\/b>: Time 12:00<\/b><\/p>\n

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

Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs Magdalena Frech is the fourth time these two have met. Frech has won the last two matches at the WTA level, while Bouzas Manerio won their only ITF match. Bouzas Maneiro is 2-5 overall in 2026. Frech is 7-6 overall, but has yet to make it past the round of 16 in any tournament. Neither lady has won a tournament since 2024.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

The books have Bouzas Maneiro as the favorite, likely because she’s playing slightly better this year. I can’t really explain it otherwise. She’s less experienced overall on a hardcourt at 84-55. Frech is 193-139 overall on a hardcourt. I think Frech is the smarter play here, and it starts with her being in better form. At 2.09, you’re going to get more than double your money, and that’s a fine day at the office.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Frech winning<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@2.09 @Pinnacle<\/b><\/p>\n

Zhang <\/b>\u2013 <\/b>Navarro<\/b>: Time 17:30<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 2-0<\/b><\/p>\n

Shuai Zhang will meet Emma Navarro for the third time overall, having won the last two. This is their first match outside of China, which is probably\u00a0some<\/em> help to Navarro. Navarro is 4-6 in 2026, and Zhang is 6-5 overall. Oddly enough, Navarro has made it the furthest of the two, reaching the quarterfinals at WTA Adelaide. Navarro desperately needs this match to get off on the right foot, but that’s not been her lot in tennis as of late.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Surprisingly, the books have Navarro as the favorite here by 2.75-1.5, on average. Navarro has never beaten Zhang. Not only that, but she’s lost more matches than her this year and won two fewer games also. It’s almost like Navarro has a tremendous problem with Zhang in hardcourt matches. If you’re not taking Navarro straight up, then take Zhang in the upset. It’s fairly likely.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Zhang<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0winning<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@2.75 <\/b>@Betway<\/b><\/p>\n

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

The WTA M\u00e9rida round of 16 continues, and the lines are pretty solid. Like yesterday, we grabbed whatever competitive matches we could and put together a best bets article for you. Did you make any money from our bets yesterday? Some hit, and some didn’t. Please share your thoughts on our choices in the comments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":79506,"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":[17400,4],"tags":[10120,11223,18955,4594,405,15,18649,18884],"class_list":["post-98628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-wta","tag-ann-li","tag-emma-navarro","tag-jessica-bouzas-maneiro","tag-magdalena-frech","tag-shuai-zhang","tag-wta","tag-wta-merida","tag-zeynep-sonmez"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98628","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=98628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98639,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98628\/revisions\/98639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}