It is the second Grand Slam for the women over the next fortnight too with the leading lights in the game descending on Roland Garros in Paris for the French Open and this looks like one of the most open Slams in women’s tennis history.
That is highlighted by the fact bookmakers are going 6/1 the field this time around. Jelena Ostapenko is slightly bigger than that but she defends the title she won so amazingly last year.
Recent Winners
2017 – Jelena Ostapenko
2016 – Garbine Muguruza
2015 – Serena Williams
2014 – Maria Sharapova
2013 – Serena Williams
2012 – Maria Sharapova
2011 – Li Na
2010 – Francesca Schiavone
2009 – Svetlana Kuznetsova
2008 – Ana Ivanovic
The Format
We have a typical Grand Slam format in operation here. The 128 runners have been placed into the draw which is played out as normal in a knockout format. Every match in the tournament is the best of three sets and unlike a couple of the slams there is NO tiebreak in the final set here which is a change to 15 years ago when there was.
Top Quarter
The twice beaten finalist Simona Halep is the number one seed this week. The runner up in the Australian Open has landed herself in a nasty looking quarter though given the seeds that are in it. They are Kiki Mladenovic, Daria Gavrilova, Elise Mertens, Angelique Kerber, Kiki Bertens, Shuai Zhang and Caroline Garcia. She will have her work cut out to come through there.
There are some tidy non-seeds in this part of the draw too with Shuai Peng, Irina Begu, Elena Vesnina, Andrea Petkovic and Alison Riske all at home on the surface and capable of big results. You get the feeling this is a bit of a tournament in itself.
Second Quarter
If everyone is fit and firing in the second quarter you could say the same here too. The 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza is the top seed but really all eyes will be on Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in this quarter. Serena is actually unseeded but Sharapova is a seed as is Karolina Pliskova, Ash Barty, Julia Goerges, Coco Vandeweghe, Magdalena Rybarikova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
As well as Serena there are some other good unseeded players in this part of the draw. Svetlana Kuznetsova is one of them while Sam Stosur and Yanina Wickmayer would be two more. Belinda Bencic is capable of good things while Laura Siegemund and Dominika Cibulkova make this a brutal looking quarter on paper.
Third Quarter
The defending champion Jelena Ostapenko is in this quarter but it is tournament favourite and Rome Masters winner Elina Svitolina who is the top seed in it. Barbora Strycova, Jo Konta, Venus Williams, Madison Keys, Naomi Osaka and Mihaela Buzarnescu make up the remainder of the seeds in what could be between the top two seeds.
Those looking to cause upsets in this section are former champion Francesca Schiavone, Petra Martic, Yulia Putintseva, Ekaterina Makarova and Victoria Azarenka who it is good to see back playing in Europe after the issues she has had since her son was born.
Bottom Quarter
It is all about the Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki in this quarter but given that the clay is not her best surface it might be that Madrid champion Petra Kvitova offers the biggest threat in this section. Anett Kontaveit, Anastasija Sevastova, US Open champion Sloane Stephens, Daria Kasatkina, Carla Suarez Navarro and Alize Cornet complete the seeds in this quarter.
Sara Errani is a former finalist in this tournament and she is unseeded in this section while Ana Konjuh, Kirsten Flipkens, Kaia Kanepi and Camila Giorgi have the potential to put a spanner in the works of many a seed.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
I’ll go with two bets in this tournament, one from each half. The first of those comes from the top half where I like the winning form of Elise Mertens. She won the opening tournament of the year in Hobart and followed that up with a run to the semis in Melbourne where she lost to the eventual winner Wozniacki. Since then the Belgian has won a lesser tournament on the clay in Lugano and another in Rabat. She is used to winning matches and that is never a bad thing and at 50/1 in a top half that might get brutal I think she’s decent value.
In the bottom half I’m going to take a punt on Anett Kontaveit to come through what actually looks like an open section. All eyes will be on Elina Svitolina but she’s done nothing in the slams to date and really Ostapenko aside, and defending this hasn’t happened since the days of Justine Henin who was special on the dirt, the other main seeds all prefer other surfaces to clay. Kontaveit made the quarters in Madrid and the semis in Rome losing to the eventual champion both times so she’s in good touch and can exploit a nice draw.
Tips
Back E.Mertens to win French Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
Back A.Kontaveit to win French Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
