2009 LADIES FRENCH OPEN BETTING TIPS

Dinara Safina comes into the 2009 French Open as the outright favourite by a relatively decent margin, carrying a price of 3/1 against a very tough field that includes both Venus Williams (9/1) and Serena Williams (7/1), as well as Elena Dementieva (10/1) and Maria Sharapova (25/1). This one is definitely not as locked up as the men's French Open betting has been so far, and I sense significantly more money-making opportunities here with Maria Sharapova the unlikely dark horse in the competition for me. She's been out of action for quite some time, but got off to a decent start against Anastasiya Yakimova in a come-from-behind victory. I think 25/1 are very generous odds on Sharapova who could really come into form as the tournament continues. I think Dinara Safina is the rightful #1, but I don't think she's nearly as much of a lock to win the competition as Rafael Nadal is in the men's division. Paddy Power is offering up each-way bets on this one and the odds are better than the men's division. They're paying out 1/2 the odds on places 1 and 2 instead of their usual 1/3 of the odds. That makes Sharapova a very solid each-way bet and you'd be looking at nearly 13/1 odds on her just to make the final. You can also jump out and back an all-Williams Final and get 7/2 on Serena and 9/2 on Venus. Elena Dementieva knows a thing or two about winning big tournaments and her price doesn't put me off either. For me, I think Safina/Sharapova would be a stellar final and there's plenty of money-making opportunities in the match-betting as well.