C. Branstine +5 games over Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari age 30 - WTA # 72. - Since Doha in Feb. has 15W & 15L and only 3 of her wins have been by more than 5 games.
She played very well last week in Washington beating Katie Boulter and Emma Navarro and then losing to Emma Raducanu 6-4 – 7-5
Prior to that she beat Anna Blinkova in the 1 round at Wimbledon and then loss to Rybakina 6-1 6- 3 in the 2 round.
I think that today she will be just trying to win and get through this 1 round Canadian open match anyway she can, and she will just be happy to win. Her motivation & focus levels will not be nearly as high as they were in Washington last week or at Wimbledon, especially playing Carson Branstine who’s ranked 178.
What I think that I am getting in this match-up is a highly motivated 24 year old American / Canadian who has spent a few years training at the USTA, then she accepted an offer from Tennis Canada to train at the National Training Centre in Montreal, starting in October 2016 because her mother is Canadian and her father is American.
So, she’s playing on courts that she is very familiar & happy with and she's very comfortable in this city and the surroundings.
She has played college tennis at Texas A&M and Virginia (similar backgrounds as Emma Navvaro and Danielle Collins who started playing professionally later in age and both have done very well).
In June, C. Branstine made her WTA Tour main-draw debut, after qualifying for the Libéma Open in the Netherlands, and defeated top seed Liudmila Samsonova WTA # 16 in the first round. Branstine lost to fellow qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in her next match
C. Branstine defeated French Open semifinalist Loïs Boisson, &fellow Canadian Bianca Andreescu, and Raluca ?erban in qualifying to make it through to her first major main-draw at Wimbledon.
She then lost to world No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, in the first round 6-1 7-5 ) Despite her loss, she reached a new career-high ranking of world No. 178 on 14 July 2025.
In my eyes, under the right conditions, she can play with the big dogs respectfully and not get blown out badly. And today she has those right conditions all in her favor.
I think and feel that getting +5 games is excellent value.
I’m rolling with C. Branstine today with +5 games
GLTA
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