{"id":98708,"date":"2026-02-28T15:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=98708"},"modified":"2026-02-28T15:09:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:09:51","slug":"wta-merida-best-bets-paolini-vs-bucsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/02\/28\/wta-merida-best-bets-paolini-vs-bucsa\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA M\u00e9rida Best Bets Including Jasmine Paolini vs Cristina Bucsa"},"content":{"rendered":"

As WTA M\u00e9rida enters the semifinals, LWOS has our best bets for these matches. While WTA Austin is packed with Americans in their semifinals, the WTA M\u00e9rida semifinals are a much more international affair. So please join the conversation. Leave your thoughts and wagers in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Frech <\/b>\u2013 Zhang<\/b>: Time 16:00<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 1-2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Magdalena Frech will meet Shuai Zhang in the first semifinal. This will be the fourth match between these two. Anytime they’ve met on a hardcourt, Zhang has won. The one time they met on a clay surface, Frech took that match. None of their matches have gone past a second set, nor have any taken place this late in a tournament. This is their first match beyond the round of 16 at any tournament. In terms of overall records, Frech is 9-7, and Zhang is 8-5.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The books see Zhang as a solid favorite, and so do I. As I stated above, Zhang hasn’t had any problems with Frech on a hardcourt. It’s not that Frech is dogwater on a hardcourt, she is 195-139 overall. It’s just that Zhang is 441-282. I think taking Zhang straight up is the smart play here. At 1.85 on Pinnacle, you’ll be able to make a fair amount by playing the favorites.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Zhang <\/strong><\/span>winning<\/strong><\/span> @1.85 <\/b>@Pinnacle<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Paolini <\/b>\u2013 Bucsa<\/b>: Time 17:30<\/b><\/h4>\n

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

Jasmine Paolini and Cristina Bucsa will also meet for the fourth time overall. Bucsa won the last match, and Paolini won the first two. That said, only two of their matches were at the WTA level, since the first match was at ITF Valencia. That semifinal match at the 2016 ITF Valencia went all three sets, but it was on a clay court. Paolini is only 5-4 this year, and Bucsa is 4-5 overall.<\/p>\n

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

This one is pretty simple. Paolini is pretty well-favored in this match, and I agree. What I would do is take Paolini 2:0 at 2.08 on 1xBet. Whenever Paolini has had Bucsa on a hardcourt, Bucsa hasn’t even been able to win more than six total games. There’s little reason to think that Paolini won’t accomplish the same thing this time around against a struggling Bucsa.<\/p>\n

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

Value bet\/the best odds: Paolini winning<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>@2.08 @1xBet<\/b><\/p>\n

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

As WTA M\u00e9rida enters the semifinals, LWOS has our best bets for these matches. While WTA Austin is packed with Americans in their semifinals, the WTA M\u00e9rida semifinals are a much more international affair. So please join the conversation. Leave your thoughts and wagers in the comments section.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 WTA M\u00e9rida Frech \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":61058,"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":[43579,17399,15195,5319,4594,405,15,18649],"class_list":["post-98708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-wta","tag-2026-wta-merida","tag-best-bets","tag-cristina-bucsa","tag-jasmine-paolini","tag-magdalena-frech","tag-shuai-zhang","tag-wta","tag-wta-merida"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98708","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=98708"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98746,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98708\/revisions\/98746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}