The Olympic Games officially gets underway on Saturday and one of the first events to begin is the tennis tournament and having previewed the men’s draw elsewhere it is now time to look at the women’s event in Paris.
Belinda Bencic shocked plenty to win this tournament in Tokyo three years ago but the Swiss star is not around in Paris so we are guaranteed that the gold medal will go around the neck of another player at the end of the week.
Recent Winners
2020 – Belinda Bencic
2016 – Monica Puig
2012 – Serena Williams
2008 – Elena Dementieva
2004 – Justine Henin-Hardenne
2000 – Venus Williams
1996 – Lindsay Davenport
1992 – Jennifer Capriati
1988 – Steffi Graf
The Format
This is a straight knockout tournament right from the start. There was a limit to the number of players a country could send so the field is different to the ones we might see in a Grand Slam. All matches are the best of three sets right up until and including the final. Tie-breaks are in operation in all sets including the deciding one which is a slight change to previous years when the decider has had to be won by two clear games.
Top Quarter
Iga Swiatek won the French Open here earlier in the year to confirm her dominance on the dirt and as the world number one she will be the top seed in the first quarter as she looks to taste Olympic success for the first time. Three other seeds will be out to stop her in this section with the one she is scheduled to meet in the quarter finals being Danielle Collins who is appearing at her final Olympics. The other two women who are seeded in this section are Jelena Ostapenko and the impressive Diana Shnaider.
As with the men’s draw, there are a lot of unseeded players among the 64 who have entered this event who are household names with only 16 seeds. In this quarter the young Czech player Linda Noskova would be one of those while Nadia Podoroska is a former French Open semi-finalist here. Caroline Wozniacki is back at the Olympics and looking to make headway while Dayana Yastremska and the home star Diane Parry will look to make a name for themselves too.
Second Quarter
Elena Rybakina was expected to be the leading seed in the second quarter of the draw this week but the former Wimbledon champion has withdrawn from the event after the draw was made and that leaves Qinwen Zheng as the highest ranked seed in this section. She is scheduled to meet Caroline Garcia in her home Olympics in the quarter final as the French woman was elevated to the seeded slot vacated by Rybakina. The other two seeds in this quarter are Emma Navarro and Leylah Fernandez.
Some big names are in the unseeded section of this quarter with two former Grand Slam champions meeting in the first round in it when Naomi Osaka faces Angelique Kerber, who will bring the curtain down on a fine career after the Olympics. Karolina Muchova made the final here in 2023 and is a threat while Petra Martic, Magdalena Frech and Anna Kalinina are three other players who are all dangerous on their day.
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Third Quarter
Jasmine Paolini has been to the final of the last two Grand Slam tournaments including here at the French Open and she is the headline act in terms of the highest ranked player in the third quarter of the draw. If this section goes to the numbers then she will meet Jessica Pegula in the quarter final, however it might be that the Italian ace gets a shot at revenge against Barbora Krejcikova who beat her in the Wimbledon final two weeks ago. Beatriz Haddad Maia is the other seed in this section.
Elina Svitolina is probably the name which jumps out the most with regards to the unseeded players and she will consider herself a danger in her adopted homeland given that she is married to a Frenchman. Home player Varvara Gracheva will hope to use home support to the full this week while the only British representative is in this quarter too in Katie Boulter. Magda Linette and Mirra Andreeva are a couple of other dangers.
Bottom Quarter
The reigning US Open champion and beaten French Open finalist of 2022, Coco Gauff, is the top seed in the bottom quarter of the draw as she goes about winning the Olympic gold medal as a teenager. She is scheduled to face off against Maria Sakkari in the quarter final if the draw plays out how it is ranked to do. Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic is one of the other two seeds in this quarter with the other being Marta Kostyuk.
Once again there are a few names which catch the eye in the unseeded ranks here including the former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu as well as the home player Clara Burel. Katerina Siniakova has a wonderful chance of the gold medal in the women’s doubles alongside Barbora Krejcikova and she is in this quarter as are the likes of Yulia Putintseva, Ajla Tomljanovic and Ekaterina Alexandrova who will all be looking for a big week.
Betting
I’m going to keep things pretty simple in the women’s draw because even though we have a reduced draw and one which comes thicker and faster at Iga Swiatek, she is becoming so dominant on clay and here in particular that it is hard to oppose her. I’m certainly not a backer at odds on but I’m keeping my betting interest very much in the other half of the draw so that I have a chance of an each way payout before my player goes anywhere near the world number one.
That player is Jasmine Paolini, who has come alive over the last couple of months. She made the final here in the French Open and then followed that up by doing the same thing at Wimbledon just a fortnight ago so we know that the big events and the big arenas inspire her and if there is a little bit of serving her time before her chance comes, a little like Andy Murray in 2012, then this could be her week. She would probably need someone to dump Swiatek out but we’d already have a 9/1 place in the bag if she lost to her in the final. The Italian is making great strides this year, has a lovely draw with Jessica Pegula not at her best on the clay, and plenty of confidence to chase Olympic gold.
Tips
Back J.Paolini to win Olympic Gold Medal (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back her here:
