Ekaterina Makarova v Maria Sharapova is a surprise semi final line up in Australian Open tennis betting. Russian darling Sharapova isn’t the surprise, but at this stage of the competition, it was expected that she would be going up against number three seed Simona Halep. However, Makarova’s surprise demolition job over the Romanian, has set up a more one-sided looking semi final clash.
Sharapova is heavy 2/7 favourite to win the fixture with online betting site Paddy Power and is back in the semi finals of the competition for the seventh time in her career. She has managed to go on and convert just the once to get her hands on the Australian Open from those six previous places in the final four.
But she is a fighter and she is looking powerfully pragmatic in her approach to the game. She simply worked hard and that was enough to outclass Canadian starlet eugenie Bouchard in their quarter final clash. Sharapova has her back-up plan of stepping into overdrive working very well at the moment, and it was clinical enough to pounce on any mistakes from Bouchard.
Since her second round scare against Alexandra Panova, where Sharapova had to see off two match points, she has looked more amped up and in focus. Ekaterina Makarova deserves huge plaudits for the hard work that she put in against Simona Halep, and was simply one step ahead of everything that Halep threw at her, with some brilliant defensive anticipation.
The win puts the Russian into her second successive Grand Slam final, after seeing off Eugenie Bouchard and Victoria Azarenka on her way to the final four of Flushing Meadows last season at the US Open, before being ousted by Serena Williams. Understated is the best way to describe Makarova, but she should play her part in an enduring semi final. Sharapova leads the head to head 5-0 against her compatriot including two previous wins at the Australian Open over her (2012 and 2013 quarter finals).
Online bookmaker Paddy Power will refund losing match bets on your player as a free bet if they win the first set of the match but go on to lose the match. Great Australian Open betting insurance and the maximum refund is £100 per customer per match.
