Posted on 1/16/2008 5:21:40 PM

Australian Open Tennis Betting – Women’s Singles Odds

By Nila Amerova

Melbourne, Australia – The collective Ladies Singles betting market is unified in tipping World No.1 Justine Henin as the short odds favourite to lift the Australian Open title in 2008. Before the start of the Grand Slam, Henin was priced at +140 with BetUS Sportsbook to win outright; but with 2007 Australian Open champion Serena Williams, 2007 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, and two-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova all priced near-at-hand at +650, +800 and +450 respectively, tennis bettors will face some tough choices when picking this year’s champion.

Justine Henin finished the 2007 season lifting an incredible nine Sony Ericsson WTA titles and the year-end Tour Championships trophy. (The 10 titles Henin lifted was the first double-digit season tally since Martina Hingis won 12 in 1997 and the highest number of titles any man or woman won in 2008.)

After such a phenomenal year, it naturally follows Henin will be favoured by seasoned and unseasoned tennis bettors alike. However, the experienced bettor will know that in such a competitive individual sport, the balance of power can shift at any given time. Case in point—the 2007 Australian Open.

In 2007, Serena Williams entered the Australian Open odds amidst many questions and speculations, but the then self-dubbed dangerous floater defied all the odds (priced at +160 against the pre-tournament favourite Maria Sharapova, who was tipped at -200 in the 2007 Australian Open final) Williams seized the coveted title with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Despite winning in spectacular fashion last year at her first Grand Slam event on her comeback trail, the defending champion Serena Williams enters this year’s Australian Open not as the bookmakers clear favourite. In fact, Williams who is tipped at +650 to win outright, is slightly disadvantaged compared to last year’s finalist Maria Sharapova, tipped at +450 to win outright. This might have something to do with the fact that out of the eight Grand Slam titles Serena Williams won in her career, she only successfully defended one in back-to-back years—Wimbledon 2002-03.

Williams owns three Australian Open titles—2003, 2005 and 2007. Following her first victory in Melbourne in 2003, Williams skipped the event the following year, returning to compete in 2005 and won the title for a second time. In 2006, she was eliminated in the third round; but after taking most of the 2006 season off due to injuries and knee surgery, an unseeded Williams returned in 2007 and stormed through the tournament, dismissing everyone asunder to become the surprise champion.

Of the four three-digit favourites, six-time Grand Slam Champion Venus Williams was tipped the longest at +800 to win outright. The oldest of the two William’s sisters has never won the Australian Open; her best result in Melbourne came in 2001, when she reached the semifinal round and her worst result came in 2006, when she was eliminated in the first round. In 2007, Venus did not compete. It is no small wonder Venus Williams sits on the butt of the short favourites. However, this year, Venus Williams, who was not a big fan of the old Rebound Ace court, could yet enjoy her best run in Melbourne Park, on account of the new and relatively slower Plexicushion surface.

The Eastern European vanguard, tipped in the quadruple digits, is headed up by Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic (both tipped at +1000 to win outright), Svetlana Kuznetsova (tipped at +1800) and last year’s semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova (tipped at +1400). Of the dark horses in the tournament, this foursome offers some of the most interesting speculative betting prospects during the course of the tournament, as each is capable of causing an upset or two along the way.

As this is the first grand slam event of the year, compounded by a surface facelift, injecting new conditions and factors into the equation, I expect the tournament will get off to a nervy start, with the favourites struggling somewhat to adjust to the various variables. However, after the entire women’s draw moves into the third round, I expect bettors will be better able to speculate on players, particularly when determining which ones have adjusted best to the new Plexicushion surface.

The women’s draw is not as deep as the men’s draw and perhaps a handful of the long odds underdogs’ prospects could be taken seriously in 2008. Case in point: Lindsay Davenport (+2000), Agnes Szavay (+4500), and Marion Bartoli (+8000), amongst several others, are out of the tournament. Simply, they are not able to hang in a match against some of the heavy-hitters and power-players. With such a wide gulf separating the Top 10 women from most of the rest of the playing field, it is more than likely the 2008 Australian Open Champion is in the aforementioned group.

If I were to make an early tennis pick, after watching the early round action in Melbourne, I would go with the tennis odds makers favourite on the women’s side and pick Justine Henin as this year’s Australian Open champion.

Nila Amerova is a freelance sports writer and regular contributor to the BetUS.com Locker Room.