Kerber vs Ostapenko: who will take the lead on head-to-head matches?
Angelique Kerber and Jelena Ostapenko played against each other twice and they exchanged victories in those matches. On August 19 they will face each other once again, in the third round of Cincinnati tournament. Who will be stronger this time? The answer is in our prediction.

Command Analysis

Angelique Kerber

Angelique Kerber put up a fantastic performance during the grass part of the season and she doesn't want to stop. An experienced German player won a title at Bad Homburg and reached the semi-final of Wimbledon.
In Cincinnati Kerber recorded victories over Sakkari (6:2, 6:2) and Svitolina (7:5, 2:6, 6:4). In each of those matches she was an underdog by the bookmakers' choice. She is extremely motivated for that tournament, so she is able to achieve a big result here.

Jelena Ostapenko

Jelena Ostapenko has completely failed the Olympic tournament, losing to Elena Vesnina in the first round (4:6, 7:6, 4:6). Latvian player also failed to put up a good performance at Montreal, losing in the first round to Katerina Siniakova (1:6, 3:6).
Nonetheless, Ostapenko won two matches at Cincinnati. In the first round she beat Zidansek in straight sets (7:5, 6:1). In the second one she got lucky. Jennifer Brady won the first set on a tiebreak against Jelena, but during the second set Brady withdrew herself from the match due to injury.
Trends
СтавкаSecond set: total under 9.5
In each of two head-to-head matches opponents played no more than nine games in the second set

СтавкаTiebreak: yes
In two out of four most recent matches of Ostapenko tiebreaks were played

Tip and bets
In 2021 players already met each other once, it happened in a clay tournament at Rome. Kerber was in poor form back then, but she managed to put up a fight against Ostapenko and snatched one set. Now German player is looking way better, beat dangerous opponents, Sakkari and Svitolina, so she should be able to beat an inconsistent Ostapenko.
Our prediction - Kerber to win
Sometimes Kerber lacks consistency on her serve, we saw it in her previous match against Svitolina. Three sets were played in that match. Most recent head-to-head match also ended in three sets. We offer a bet on total over.
Our second bet is on total over 21 games