US OPEN SEMIS BETTING TIPS WOZNIACKI VS ZVONAREVA
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki is poised to go into a second straight US Open final today and standing in her way is a dangerous floater Vera Zvonareva.
Wozniacki has been in formidable form at the US Open advancing convincingly, even putting on a clinic at times. Based on her form at the US Open, and her form ahead of the tournament during which she picked up three hard court titles – Copenhagen, Montreal and New Haven – she is firmly installed as the favourite to advance into the final.
William Hill is trading Wozniacki as the confident 3/10 favourite to advance; Sportingbet.com has her listed as the 2/9 bet while Paddy Power lists her at a 2/7 price.
I think we can all agree that Wozniacki hasn’t been challenged at the US Open. Save for her match against Maria Sharapova during which she dropped the most games (seven), she hasn’t needed to kick it up into high gear. Though Dominika Cibulkova also took seven games off Wozniacki and came close to taking a set off her, you never felt that she would. Partly that was down to the extremely gusty conditions that day.
Because Wozniacki has cruised so effortlessly into the semis the overriding expectation in the markets is that she’ll do so over Zvonareva as well. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the set betting markets where she’s favoured strongly to take the win in straight sets. She’s an 8/11 bet at William Hill to take the convincing 2-0 win. In addition, bookies favour a straight set win at 2/5 irrespective of the winner.
Zvonareva is through to her second straight semi this season on the back of some convincing tennis. She hasn’t dropped a set in the tournament either. For some reason, however, she’s coasted under the radar with few taking note. Until now that is.
The overwhelming opinion is that she doesn't have a reasonable shot in this match. Nowhere is this more evinced than in the markets. Zvonareva is a significant puppy at 12/5 to win outright with William Hill. At Sportingbet.com she’s tipped at 33/10 and with Paddy Power, she is listed at 13/5.
Zvonareva has an encouraging record against Wozniacki; the pair has split four meetings. Wozniacki does have the edge on hard courts, pulling ahead with a 2-1 mark; crucially, and perhaps decisively, she beat her last month in Montreal.
Still Zvonareva goes into this clash with measured optimism in my opinion. She was the Wimbledon finalist a few months ago where she played some sensational tennis. Nobody expects her to win; but because everybody is underestimating her she is without any pressure in this match, and that makes her a dangerous opponent.