WTA Sony Open Tennis Betting Odds, Tips and Preview

Williams back in action and favourite in Florida

Serena Williams (USA)
Serena Williams (USA) © GEPA pictures

WTA Sony Open Tennis Betting Info
The action in Miami is one of the biggest events on the calendar outside of the Grand Slams. There is Grand Slam quality field in attendance though for the Premier Mandatory event. Serena Williams is back in action this week after her boycott of Indian Wells over the past fortnight. That will mean that she is fresh and ready to go this week and she will start the event as favourite. But all the other big guns like Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova will be waiting to shut her down.

Latest WTA Sony Open Tennis betting odds at online bookmaker Unibet
Serena Williams 5/4, Maria Sharapova 3/1, Victoria Azarenka 7/2, Petra Kvitova 16/1, Agnieszka Radwanska 16/1, Li Na 20/1, Angelique Kerber 25/1, Caroline Wozniacki

Bookmaker Promotion
Enjoy some free live tennis streams from online bookmaker Unibet this week, who are streaming live action from the Mandatory Premier  tournament. This is a superb way to enjoy your live in play tennis betting for the Sony Open as well, especially with the incredible cash out option available to take early winning bets. Online betting site Unibet offer new customers a welcome bonus of a risk free £20 bet when registering a new account as well!

WTA Sony Open Tennis Betting Favourite
This is Serena Williams all the way here. As powerful as she has been in the women’s game, this is one tournament where she has really been excellent. It is one of her most successful tournaments and that is the last thing that the others in the field need to heard. She has won the even five times before but hasn’t tasted Miami glory since back in 2008. This is the first outing for Williams since reclaiming her place as world number one in the rankings on February 18th. She hasn’t had things all her way this season though, because of injury largely, losing in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and then to Victoria Azarenka in the final of Doha. But this is Florida, her home turf and would expect to see her powering her way to the semi finals at the very least.

Other Contenders
Russian tennis queen Maria Sharapova will take some extra backing this week as she stormed to the Indian Wells title on the weekend. In the California final she powered her way past Caroline Wozniacki, her low, powerful hitting totally destroying the Dane. That was a title that Sharapova really needed as she has been guilty of bottling it at the business end of tournaments when it matters most. That could just the confidence boost that she needs, and she moved up to world number two as well with the win. Something to put into context though is that she didn’t really meet any tough opponent along the way, although she still didn’t drop a set on her way to the title. She didn’t face anyone inside the top seven in the world to claim the Indian Wells title. It’ll be a bigger ask this week.

So onto Victoria Azarenka, who has been having a fine season, defending her titles in Doha and at the Australian Open. She looked well on track for a title run in Indian Wells before she had to pull out of her quarter final match against Caroline Wozniacki with an ankle problem. It was a problem that had been niggling her even before the tournament had started and she decided that she didn’t want to risk it any further. The problem is tendinitis and inflammation, but the Belarusian has decided to head to Florida next week anyway. It does raise questions about her fitness and ability to go all the way though. It’s understandable that she’s being stubborn after winning twice before here. Despite two tournament withdraws because of injury, Azarenka has posted a 17-0 match record for the season.

There was a return to form for Germany’s Angelique Kerber last week at Indian Wells who made a run to the semi final. That is the best we have seen of the promising starlet and hopefully she can build upon that. She really should have gone better, being a set and a break up against Wozniacki in the semi final, but then Wozniacki started playing some incredibly unplayable stuff. Bit of a fluke result, but at least there was promising signs that Kerber is back to her best. It will be a bit of momentum with her. Another dangerous floater in the draw is former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who also blew a set lead at Indian Wells. That was in the quarter finals against Maria Kirilenko. But Kvitova, who win in Dubai in mid February should still be a threat.

It will also be interesting to see how Caroline Wozniacki reacts to getting to her first Premier Mandatory final for a couple of years. She was totally blown out of the water there by Sharapova, and there may be some work and way for the former world number one to go yet before backing her with any confidence of taking a big title like this. Italian Sara Errani continues her good form, going as number eight seed for the Sony Open. She took a quarter final place at Indian Wells last week before crashing into the brick wall defence of Maria Sharapova. The diminutive Italian is well on top of her game though.

Best Outside Bet
Seems a little strange to be calling Agnieszka Radwanska an outside bet, but she should be. She has gone off the boil after a blistering start to the new season. What may make her value though is that she recorded the biggest title of her WTA here at last season’s event. The conditions should suit and her and because of her dip in form will fly under the radar. With only Kvitova being a likely quarter final opponent, there’s a big chance for her to bounce back.