Baltacha in the mix for WTA Tennis Betting Tips for the Week

Sports Betting

WTA Tennis betting: Two WTA tournaments are taking place this week, with some fine action for some tennis betting. First up is the Polsat Warsaw Open in Poland. Two strong bets are here to back, and those are Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva, but with those being the top two seeds in the tournament, there is some opportunity to pick up an outsider. Wozniacki is the gem of the WTA tour so far this year, as she has climbed up to second in the World Rankings with some fine performances. She has picked up victories this year and has largely dominated tournaments where there have not been so many of the top ten players in them. Dementieva is a class act, who simply has not delivered in tournament wins, but again, in a tournament where there is not such stern opposition as she would face in the premier tour events, she is a great one to back. She has recently climbed to 5th in the world rankings.

If you are looking around to pick up an outsider at the Polsat Warsaw Open, which is an outdoor tournament on clay, then look no further than Alona Bondarenko. She has been busy, and won the final in Hobart right at the start of the season, but the young Ukrainian  hasn’t done much to suggest that she will conquer the world. However, she reached the final here last year where she lost to Alexandra Dulgheru. Dulgheru is also in the tournament, in line to meet Dementieva, so could be worth a punt. Other than that, you will need to look at the two Chinese entrants, La Ni and Jie Zheng, who should both be good enough to get deep into the tournament. Both players, La Ni in particular hit a bit of a wall after reaching the semi finals at the Australian Open, (British tennis fans may recall Elena Baltacha’s great victory over World Number 10 La Ni earlier in the season), but should be a threat, with Zheng having the slightly harder draw.

Polsat Warsaw Open Outright Odds
Caroline Wozniacki: 15/8 at Stan James
Elena Dementieva: 9/4 at Bet365
Na Li: 9/2 at Bet365
Alona Bondarenko: 10/1 at BetFair
Alexandra Dulgheru: 16/1 at Stan James
Jie Zheng: 20/1 at Bet365

Britain’s Elena Baltacha is on the rise again, as she progressed through to the second round of the Strasbourg Open, as players warm up for the coming French Open at Roland Garros. Baltacha had a great victory over Sorana Cirstea in the first round, who was a semi finalist at Estoril last week. She is in a great position to go deep into the tournament, looking at the draw, and won’t meet a seed until the semi finals. Baltacha has been in inspired form this season, and making waves through the WTA with her progress after coming back from a long injury. She is currently 62nd in the World and on the up. As for the winner of the tournament, then most betting will lean towards Maria Sharapova, who has suddenly made a comeback from nowhere. This is only her fifth appearance of the season, which started with a first round exit at the Australian Open to Maria Kirilenko. Sharapova did win the title in Memphis, but on her comeback last week in Madrid, failed to make it past the last 64.

Sharapova would be a decent bet here (9/4 at BetFair), and will lead things in that department. She showed glimpses of her old self in the early round in Madrid, but came undone. The same level of competition isn’t here in this one, and as proved in Memphis, under much the same circumstances, she does know how to deliver. Outside of that, Virginie Razzano (23/5 at BetFair) looks a good outside bet, although if you’re backing Elena Baltacha (18/1 at BetFair), be aware the two of them would meet in the quarter finals. Try a betting Exchange like w for outright and match odds on this smaller tournament.