Baltacha v Molik Betting – Indian Wells Tennis

Britain’s Elena Baltacha’s stunning victory over World Number 10, China’s Li Na, at Indian Wells, has earned her a third round tie against Australia’s Alicia Molik. The action at the BNP Paribas Open is already hotting up, with seeds Melanie Oudin and Justine Henin crashing out, and Baltacha playing her part in making headlines. It was a marathon of an event, in which Baltacha looked to have blown her chance after falling behind in the deciding set’s tie break. Somehow though, she impressively got into the zone when it mattered most, to crawl her way back from a 5-1 tie break deficit, saving two match points along the way.

Now Baltacha, ranked 65th in the world, plays her third round match on Sunday, and will start as favourite at the Australian who is ranked 138th in the world. Molik is a wildcard entrant and defeat 29th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in three sets in the first round. If Baltacha can keep her fine season going, then she will play the winner between China’s Jie Zheng and Maria Sharapova in the fourth round. World Number 13 Sharapova had to battle her way back from a set and three games down to get past Vera Dushevina in the first round. Baltacha, who had already played two qualifying matches and the first round match, took advantage of any rustiness from Na, and as long as she can keep her first serve up, she has every chance of forcing a potential rematch against Sharapova. The Russian tennis queen ended Baltacha’s run at the quarter final stage in Memphis recently, and would make for another good match up, and reward for the British number one’s endeavours.

Elena Baltacha to win: 4/6 at Bet365
Alicia Molik – 6/5 at Boylesports