2011 Australian Open Tennis Betting Women’s Final – Kim Clijsters v Li Na

Sports Betting

The women’s final of the Australian Open is all about Chinese star Li Na, who has managed to go one better than her semi final appearance in Melbourne last year. In her defeat of world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the semi finals, she became the first Asian player to reach a Grand Slam tennis final. Even on the back of her strong performance here last year, she was always an outsider in the betting, and going up against Wozniacki, everyone expected the young Danish starlet to be heading to the Australian Open final. It is not to be though, as Li Na out punched her. It was a fascinating match between the two, with Wozniacki looking the calmer and more assured through the first set. Li Na had to fend of a match point for Wozniacki in the second set as well, but it was the Chinese player who really started gaining momentum as the match went on. As Wozniacki tired, looking a bit heavy in the legs, and her incredible anticipation deserting her, Li Na pounced. Li Na plays a very simple game, and it is not one with a lot of style and finesse, but it certainly packs a lot of power. In the first set, Na could not finish opportunities at all, with forehand smash after forehand smash going long or wide. She looked as if she was really feeling the pressure of the moment in the first set, and just couldn’t get herself going.

However, and this is one of the big pluses about Li Na, is that she digs in and really knows how to stage a comeback. She did the same against Kim Clijsters in the final of Sydney just a fortnight ago, when Clijsters was in cruise control, but Na fought back from the brink of defeat to steal the title. She has an incredible fortitude, can cause a lot of damage with her backhand shots, and when she pairs up the accuracy of her forehand with her power, then she is a big threat. Li Na punches hard with her shots and her game is about power, trying to bully her opponent off the court, and it leads to a very brave game from her. She has one of the highest winning shot counts in the women’s tournament, along with the highest break point conversion rate at the Australian Open. The downfall though, is that because she has an incredibly low clearance over the net through playing very hard, low, flat shots that she really shoots for the baseline, and while her winners are up, her unforced error count is really high also. It is finding that balance in between, but it works for Na, and now she proudly steps out in to her first Grand Slam final, and should be in good spirits. Na has dropped just one set in the tournament so far, beating Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka on the road to the final, where she will meet Kim Clijsters.

Kim Clijsters from Belgium has been guilty of being a streaky player in her career. While she is undoubtedly one of the class acts on the WTA, she also goes through patches where her game really lets her down. There have been small glimpses of it during the Australian Open, particularly in her match against, Alize Cornet in the second round. Still, Clijsters continues to punch her way through, and her strengths are in her footwork and beautiful control. She just never looks like she is going to hit a bad shot, and this is where the match could be won. She took firm control of the early exchanges against Li Na in the final of Sydney, but then couldn’t withstand the power of Li Na’s comeback, once the Chinese player had relaxed after looking down and out. Clijsters will have learned from that, she is too good of a player not too, and the three time US Open Champion is firm favourite to add the Australian Open title to her collection, a title which she has never won before. There will be a new name on the women’s trophy this year. Truthfully, Clijsters hasn’t been tested too much in the tournament so far, getting past Agnieszka Radwanska, Ekaterina Makarova and helped by Jelena Jankovic exiting early. Her biggest test came in the semi final where she met world number two Vera Zvonareva.

Despite exchanging breaks at the start of the match, Clijsters wasn’t long in exerting her control in the match, and ran out 6-3 6-3 winner over the Russian. A straight sets victory, just as she had done against Zvonareva at Flushing Meadows last year in the US Open final. If you are looking for experience to hedge your bet with, then Clijsters will win hands down. This is a Grand Slam final, and nerves do play their part. Ask Zvonareva at the US Open and Wimbledon finals. This is the eighth major final which Clijsters has been in, and hasn’t dropped a set through her progress to the final. Looking at the stats between the two players, there are some big factors at play. Clijsters has won 70% of points on her first serve, while Na has won just 64%. Perhaps more telling, is the 58% success on points that Clijsters has on her second serve, where Li Na’s second serve has yielded just a point win just 49% of the time during the tournament. Clijsters has spent a lot less time on court during the Australian Open than Li Na, the Belgium making rapid progress. Can Li Na punch above her ranking one more time, to make another piece of history? Li Na is something of an important figure in Chinese sport. She rebelled against the state, refusing to pay the 40% of her earnings that the state trained players were required to. She left the regime and went solo, paying her own way to tournaments around the world and making a name for herself. Both are very affable players, with Clijsters the cool, collected, consummate polite, respectful professional, while Na is the spunky passionate one with her heart on her sleeve.

The Head to Head record between the two stands in favour of Clijsters, winning 4 to Na’s 2. Clijsters is ranked 3rd in the world (will be up to number two after this tournament), while Na is ranked 11th. Clijsters has 40 career titles, to Na’s 4. This should be a great match, with plenty of big shots going to the wire, you have to look at the much better control that Clijsters has though, along with the big match experience. When Na beat Clijsters in Sydney, it was Clijster’s failure to put the first set to bed on the tie break after being up in the set. It handed all the momentum and power to Na to stage a comeback. She did, but can she do it on the big stage, under the heat and pressure of a Grand Slam final? Even with that victory, it is tough to back against Clijsters, she is probably going to be too much of a class act on the day, and looks for her fourteenth straight Grand Slam match victory in a row.

Kim Clijsters to win: 4/11 at Bet365
Na Li to win: 5/2 at SkyBet

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