Unfortunately for the event, the WTA Dubai this week has had two major withdraws. Both Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams (the two Australian Open finalist this year) have pulled out of the tournament, Williams will illness and Kerber with an injury. Caroline Wozniacki has also had to withdraw from the competition as well.
So that leaves a big clash at the head of the betting market, with the bookmakers expecting a pretty tight battle out in Dubai. Simona halep is running as 7/2 outright favourite. It’s been a really quiet season from the young Romanian who has played only two tournament, winning just two matches. She was supposed to be missing the Middle Eastern swing of the season to go and have nose surgery, but she put it off to compete in the Fed Cup and is back for her title defence in Dubai.
She wasn’t sure if she was going to be fit enough to take it on but she decided to have a crack at the title defence and gets a wildcard into the tournament. She is top seed though because of the withdrawal from Serena Williams. Also getting wildcards into the event are Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova, both of them making late decisions to show up and play.
It was a win over Kvitova in the Fed Cup recently that inspired Halep to play in Dubai, although she did lose against Pliskova there. So it’s a pretty wide open field you would think and probably not enough momentum behind Halep to back her to go and win the thing. Spain’s Garbine Muguruza is pretty much in the same boat as 4/1 price as second suite, really not having done anything this season yet.
Kvitova was upset in the second round of the Australian Open and subsequently fired her coach and is flying solo at the moment, so it’s hard to know what to expect from her. Belinda Bencic has shown more than all of them so far this season, having the round of sixteen at the Australian Open, which followed a semi final exit at Sydney in her warm up, where she had to retire. Karolina Pliskova, a top rising talent like Bencic, hasn’t really gotten herself up and running either this term.
So a really wide open field here and you also have options like Ana Ivanovic, Roberta Vinci (who won the St Petersburg title on the weekend (beating Bencic in the final) and scrappers like Caroline Garcia and Jelena Jankovic. A tight market like this only screams value for punters.
WTA Dubai Tennis Betting Odds and Prediction
Simona Halep 7/2, Garbine Muguruza 4/1, Petra Kvitova 6/1, Belinda Bencic 15/2, Karolina Pliskova /1, Ana Ivanovic 20/1, Carla Suarez Navarro 20/1, Svetlana Kuznetsova 20/1, Robert Vinci 25/1, 33/1 bar
Tough to select a winner from this one. Out of the competitive bunch though, Bencic may be the one worth a flutter on. She went to the final of St Petersburg on the weekend and has done slightly better than any of the other main contenders in the field this season. It will also be interesting to see what Pliskova’s win over Halep in the recent Fed Cup battle will have done to kick start her season and could be worth a punt in the To Reach Final market at online betting site Bet Victor.
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