Serena Williams v Anastasija Sevastova Winner Odds & Predictions

Williams to see off underdog in semi's

Tennis Betting

Serena Williams v Anastasija Sevastova Preview – September 6th, 2018

Serena Williams has dropped just the one set at the US Open this season now after beating eighth seed Karolina Pliskova in their quarter final match up. After having been taken to three sets by Kaia Kanepi in the fourth round it was back to usual business for Williams.

She gets a shot now against 19th seed Anastasija Sevastova who pulled off a shock against reigning champion Sloane Stephens in her quarter final match to put herself in her first ever Grand Slam semi-final.

Serena Williams v Anastasija Sevastova Odds*

Serena Williams 1/5
Anastasija Sevastova 7/2
* (betting odds taken on September 5th, 2018 at 6:39 pm)

Williams held off Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-3 in their quarter-final duel and she did have to fight her way back in that match as well. The 23 time Grand Slam champion found herself being in danger of trailing by two service breaks. She looked extremely out of sorts against Pliskova, who was the last player to beat her at Flushing Meadows.

Williams was struggling to find power, accuracy and mental focus as well having to seek answers from her coach in the stands during her early struggles. But this is Williams and she dug in there despite being 4-2 down in that first set. Suddenly everything just clicked, she cut out the unforced errors that were flying all over the place and she made Pliskova pay the price for not finishing her off in that first set. Williams powered back to win in straight sets.

Next up for the American is Latvia’s Sevastova who eased past Sloane Stephen 6-2 6-3 in their quarter final match. Even though there were reports of Stephens having a sinus infection she still carved out plenty of opportunities, but she was wasteful when they came her way. Stephens blew seven break points in the first set in total and the more it was happening the more frustrated she was getting and the more she lost her focus. Sevastova basically took her chances well when they came, but her defence still struggled at times.

A Serena Williams -5.5 games handicap is at even money* (betting odds taken on September 5th, 2018 at 6:39 pm).

Sevastova has had some battles along the way at the tournament. Three of her four matches in her section of the draw went the distance and she took out some decent players in Donna Vekic, Ekaterina Makarova and seventh seed Elina Svitolina. That put her through to that quarter-final duel with Stephens in which she triumphed to put herself in the final four of a Grand Slam for the first time ever. While she has quietly gone through the draw this may not be a big surprise her reaching the semi-finals.

She has been to the quarter finals in the last two editions of the US Open and this clearly is her favoured Grand Slam tournament, not having been past the third round in any other during her career. The Latvian retired from the game in 2013, but returned two years later and beat Garbine Muguruza and Johanna Konta in getting to the 2016 US Open quarter-final. She beat Maria Sharapova along the way last year to the final eight, where she was stopped by Sloane Stephens actually.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Williams and Sevastova.

Prediction

Clearly, this is a scenario of Sevastova punching above her weight. Even though she took out Stephens in straight sets in the last round, her defence wasn’t great and Williams is likely to step up and punish her. Serena Williams 2-0 in set betting naturally appeals although it is only 4/7 odds* (betting odds taken on September 5th, 2018 at 6:39 pm). So perhaps a games handicap of -5.5 on Williams will stretch to better value.