Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Wimbledon 2011 Final Tennis Betting – 02.07.11

Sports Betting

It is hard to keep a form player down, and the fact that we are looking at Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Wimbledon 2011 final tennis betting instead of Sabine Lisicki v Kvitova is a testament to that. The 24 year old Russian Sharapova, has been tournament favourite right from the off and she has backed up her form here. Although things did not look to sharp in the first set of her semi final match against Sabine Lisicki, when the German wildcard raced ahead in the first set, three games to nil. That was because Sharapova started very slowly and was struggling to find her stride, and surprisingly for two very good servers, the standard was pretty poor in that department, and with Sharapova making uncharacteristic errors, she had to do something which she is brilliant at, but hasn’t had to do much off during this Wimbledon, and that is fight from behind. There really is no one better in the women’s game than Sharapova when falling behind. Her grittiness and desire not to go down brings out a side of her game which many others fail to replicate. That Sharapova stubbornness shone through here, when the Russian started her comeback in the fourth game of the first set, and then rattled off a purple patch of form, winning nine of the next ten games from then on out. Sharapova, who is looking for her second Wimbledon title never looked in danger of letting the semi final get away from her after that point, winning 6-4 6-3 against Lisicki.

It wasn’t the most comprehensive nor impressive match of Sharapova’s 2011 Wimbledon, but it matters not, because she is back in the final, seven years after her last appearance there. Sharapova’s second chance of Wimbledon success now looks like a strong reality but there is one final hurdle to get over, and that is Petra Kvitova. Czech Kvitova powered her way past fourth seed Azarenka and showed the two sides of her game, which need to be noted when weighing up your Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Wimbledon 2011 final tennis betting. Kvitova is a star, make no mistake about that, and if the 21 year old continues at this rate, she really should challenge at the top of the world rankings before long. With three WTA Tour titles under her belt already, this fourth one would be the biggest of her career. A Grand Slam. She was back in the semi finals of Wimbledon this year, after losing out to Serena Williams at this stage last year. Only she is now much better than she was then. Left hander Kvitova has a wonderful serve, full of power and variety, and she can rattle off those aces. But there is a lot more to her game than just power, she has an incredible amount of finesse and bravery. The stand out aspect of Kvitova’s game is the winners she goes for and nails. It doesn’t matter if its on the back hand or off the forehand (which are superb to watch), Kvitova seems to produce magic with her winners.

She is maturing all the time, but there is one thing which still plagues her and that is inconsistency. She lost her focus again a little bit in the second set against Azarenka, just as she did against Tsvetana Pironkova in their quarter final match. But after losing that set, she turned on the after burners and crushed Azarenka in the third. This really is a champion in the waiting, and it wouldn’t be any surprise to see her pull this big one off. She will be able to trade power with Sharapova, so there’s no worries there, and Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Wimbledon 2011 final tennis betting is quite a close match up to call. Sharapova’s semi final victory was properly her one bad game out of the way, if you can call it bad. There was a lot of unforced errors, but there must have been a certain amount of nerves at work there. She was expected to win, and living up to that expectation is tough at times, it is what was her undoing in the French Open semi final. Sharapova’s first serves needs to be on point and Kvitova has to hold her concentration. If both of things stand up, then we should be in for a cracker of a final on Saturday at SW19.

Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Head to Head

Maria Sharapova has played Petra Kvitova just once in the WTA, back in 2010 in Memphis which Sharapova won 6-4 6-3. That was when Kvitova was 16th in the world, and she is now 8th, while Sharapova is 6th. Kvitova’s year to date record is 36 wins and 8 defeats, compared to Sharapova’s 26 wins and 7 defeats. Kvitova has won three titles this year, and Sharapova just one.

Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Wimbledon 2011 final tennis betting tip

There really is some good positive value in backing Kvitova and she looks confident and proud to be where she is. Experience though in these situations is essential, and that is all with Sharapova. If Kvitova slips a little in her focus, then Sharapova will be right there to punish it. That is why we are just going to have to stick with the favourite and back Sharapova.

Maria Sharapova v Petra Kvitova Wimbledon 2011 final tennis betting odds

Maria Sharapova to win: 3/5 at SportingBet
Petra Kvitova to win: 13/8 at Stan James