WTA SYDNEY LATEST TIPS - SERENA WILLIAMS SET TO SHINE

We have some of the heavyweights in the women’s game, and a few middleweights, facing off against one another for a coveted spot in the semis of the WTA Medibank International tourney in Sydney – the WTA Tours’ last stop before just about every tennis starlet (and wannabe) descends on Melbourne for the Aussie Open. Naturally, with such a fine mix in the quarterfinals, which includes Serena Williams (EVENS to win the tourney outright), Dinara Safina (8/1), Elena Dementieva (7/2) and Victoria Azarenka (11/2) just to name a few, the tennis betting market unfolding is tight and competitive. And if the heavyweights come through, it will understandably get even tighter. Makes for really exciting betting, don’t you think?
Where one player is concerned, Serena, the bookies are confident she will win her match against Vera Dushevina. Williams to win is the favourite outcome and pays 1/10 and bettors can interpret that as a sign of unfailing confidence in Williams’s pedigree – as if to say she is as sure a bet as the sun rising at dawn.
Dushevina, who is the lowest ranked player in the final eight at No.43, is a massive puppy. You wouldn’t be wise to lay a bet on Dushevina paying 11/2. For Dushevina to come through for the betting public, she would have to play the match of her life. Can’t say I see that happening. I don’t believe many will either.
I also don’t expect a hugely competitive match between these two although Dushevina did open a good account against Venus Williams at the US Open last year – managed to take a set of big sister Venus, she did, before losing 7-6(5), 5-7, 3-6 in the first round. Venus was playing injured at the time and was nowhere near her best form but she still pulled through. Says a lot about Dushevina if you ask me and points to a seriously questionable ability to come through in big matches.
Serena, who is at the height of the women’s game, will be an even tougher prospect in my mind. Dushevina to take a set off Serena even, never mind winning the match, will be difficult.  Hence, in terms of the set betting market, the bookies have set Serena to win 2-0 to pay at 2/7, which is well priced. That said there might be a few bettors looking for more interesting bets. Those that were impressed by Dushevina’s account against Venus might like the same score for this match; that is 2-1 to Serena, which pays a solid 4/1.
The second match in the top half of the draw features Flavia Pennetta against an unheralded Aravane Rezai. The bookies favour Pennetta across the board in this match and why wouldn’t they. She had a standout season by her standards last year, even hobnobbed with the top ten for a stretch. Pennetta pays 2/7 for the win and 8/11 if she wins in straight sets. Both good trades on the favourite Pennetta, offering great angles for profit, at least much better than the Serena/Dushevina clash offers.
If you think Rezai is going to pull off the upset, trading at a decent 5/2, you would look forward to a fair payout. Should she stun Pennetta and do so in straight sets her price is just as equable at 5/1. If Rezai does open a good account against Pennetta, knowing the competitor Flavia is I would expect her to push the match to a third deciding set. In that case, 2-1 to Pennetta pays 16/5 and 2-1 to Rezai pays 11-2.
The women’s game typically plays to the strengths of the favourites – not because there is a huge drop off in depth, talent, skill...as you go down the ranks (although many subscribe to these notions and would have you believe the women’s game is in total disarray) but because the favourites aren’t afraid to win. More importantly, they know how to win. Occasionally, a puppy barks up a tree and causes a surprise shakedown. Often however there were indicators that this could happen, but only after happening, in hindsight, did most see them for what they were: warning signals. Yet such instances in the women’s game are few and far in between and sifting through tournaments, looking for such instances can be a futile exercise – unless there are clear indicators, of course.
Where the two aforementioned matches are concerned, I have to like the favourites Serena Williams and Flavia Pennetta to come through and set up a semi-final clash. Nothing in recent weeks or towards the end of last season suggests their opposites are likely to mastermind the upsets.