Johanna Konta vs. Heather Watson Pick – US Open, Monday, August 31, 2020

The top British player in the WTA rankings Johanna Konta starts her journey at the 2020 US Open against countrywoman Heather Watson on Monday. The 9^th seed is expected to overcome this hurdle rather comfortably and I can certainly see why.

I share my thoughts on the upcoming match in this Johanna Konta vs. Heather Watson preview with odds, prediction, and a free betting pick.

According to the Johanna Konta vs. Heather Watson betting odds of the best US Open betting sites, this match should be completely one-sided and I think that’s a fair assessment. The higher seeded player is much better and she should be able to break her opponent rather quickly.

I was impressed by Johanna Konta’s progress in 2019. She was able to consistently find deep runs in Grand Slams and came close to winning the French Open. That was the best year in her career and the expectations for 2020 were high.

And yet, Konta failed to deliver during the Australian Open after losing in the first round. I believe that she might have been a bit tired after the gruesome previous season and the early signs are that the long break caused by the pandemic might have benefited her.

Konta had a strong run in Cincinnati, winning three matches in straight sets before losing the semifinal against Victoria Azarenka. I believe that the British player is ready to challenge during the US Open 2020 and should be able to go through the early stages of the competition relatively easy.

Heather Watson has never been part of the tennis elite and she lacks any major accomplishments in Grand Slam tournaments. She has a negative record in all of them and is yet to win even a single match in the US Open after going out in the first round in all eight of her previous appearances.

I struggle to find a reason for this to change in 2020, based on what we’ve seen by Watson after the restart. She was knocked out in the opening game in Cincinnati by Bernarda Pera and looked mediocre in the process.

I believe that Watson lacks aggression right and you need to put Konta under severe pressure to beat her. That’s part of the reason why the 9^th seed has a 3-0 H2H record against Watson.

There’s a reason why Johanna Konta has been consistently higher in the WTA rankings than Heather Watson for what seems forever. The favorite should be able to win this one comfortably and the question here is how to exploit that.

Going after the -5.5 handicap seems like a fine pick, but I believe that betting on the under 19 games is better. It covers some wins by 5 games with a push and the odds are higher, so that’s what I prefer.