Sharapova vs Kvitova Favoured for Ladies Wimbledon Final

Despite spending much of her career being considered an up and coming contender on the tennis circuit, Maria Sharapova now finds herself in the unfamiliar position of veteran amongst the other Wimbledon Ladies semi-finalists. The Russian-born 24 year-old has only achieved sporadic victories over the past few years after rocketing to stardom, ironically, at Wimbledon back in 2006.

Sharapova is considered the distinct favourite to go on to win the Wimbledon Ladies title and the bookmakers seem especially confident that she will be facing off against Petra Kvitova in the final.

The semi-finals await and Roger Federer's Wednesday performance showed that there are no sure things for the favoured performers as he was ousted by Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in a dramatic reverse. Sharapova will be attempting to avoid a similar fate as she takes on Sabine Lisicki on Thursday.

As it currently stands, punters will find Sharapova floating around 4/11 for the outright victory while her opponent is trading at 9/4. This contest is considered significantly more lopsided than the days other event where Victoria Azarenka faces Kvitova. The bookmakers are giving a slim edge to the Czech player and are floating her at 4/5 against Azarenka who is priced at even money.

In-play volume is expected to be heavy on the Sharapova match especially if Lisicki can mount an early run and get up by a few games.

The men's singles division at Wimbledon is rapidly getting more interesting by the minute with Federer's ouster on Wednesday. Novak Djokovic looks set to continue his run as world #2 with the European bookmakers considering him the strong favourite to best Tsonga, who will be coming into the fixture with plenty of momentum. Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal are expected to contest the other men's semi-final with a fascinating clash between the world's #1 and #2 men on the grass at Wimbledon.