Venus Williams and Jelena Ostapenko meet in the second round of the 2023 tennis Birmingham Classic. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Venus Williams Betting Preview

Venus is coming off a 3 sets win over Camila Giorgi that took 36 games to decide. In the victory, Venus won 66 percent of her first serve points and 45 percent of her second serve points. Venus won 59 percent of her total service points and converted on 4 of her 9 break points. Venus got 65 percent of her first serves in play and hit 8 aces. It was Venus’ first win since Auckland back in January, and it was encouraging as she managed to grind through 2 tiebreaks. Venus could still clean up things in certain areas, but she’s played just 2 matches in the last 5 months. At this point, Venus is still working through the wrinkles. Venus has lost 4 of her last 6 matches on grass court.

Jelena Ostapenko Betting Preview

Jelena Ostapenko is coming off a 3 sets win over Linda Noskova that took 27 games to decide. In the victory, Ostapenko won 81 percent of her first serve points and 54 percent of her second serve points. Ostapenko won 69 percent of her total service points and converted on 6 of her 14 break points. Ostapenko got 54 percent of her first serves in play and hit 9 aces. Ostapenko has now won 4 of her last 5 matches that have gone the distance. Ostapenko looks to win at least 2 matches for the third time in her last 6 tournaments. Ostapenko has won 8 of her last 10 matches on grass court. 

H2H History

Venus won both meetings against Ostapenko. The meetings were 2017 Wimbledon, which was won in straight sets, and 2017 Forth Worth, which was won in 3 sets.

Randy’s Pick

You can never count out Venus and her serve along with her fiery competitive spirit. However, she’s played just 2 matches since January and still has issues with the unforced errors. It’s hard seeing Venus beat a top-20 player with such little reps under her belt. It’s just tough to bet against Ostapenko in this spot given how little Venus has played.

Give me Ostapenko in straight sets to shave down the juice.