WTA Hobart – January 7th – 13th 2019
It is the final week before the Australian Open Grand Slam and so players will be looking for their final preparations and warm-ups. There is big action happening out in Sydney, while the other feature for the week is from the Hobart International.
Here we take a look at that Hobart action. Caroline Garcia heads the field as the 15/2 favourite* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on January 6th, 2019 at 6:35 p.m.)
WTA Hobart Odds
Caroline Garcia 15/2
Belinda Bencic 10/1
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 11/1
Dayana Yastremska 14/
Viktoria Kuzmova 16/
Maia Sakkari 16/1
Shuai Zhang 16/1
Alize Cornet 16/1
Sofia Kenin 16/1
Time Babos 20/1
Mihaela Buzarnescu 20/1
25/1 bar
* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on January 6th, 2019 at 6:04 p.m.)
Table of Contents
Mertens passes on title defence
While there is actually a strong Belgian contingent going off in this one, it doesn’t include to two-time reigning champion Elise Mertens who has made the switch to the bigger Sydney tournament in her Australian Open warm-up. So that leaves Caroline Garcia and Belinda Bencic really as the main contenders in this field.
Garcia looks for form
Garcia had a great season behind her in 2018 and will be looking to take her game even further this time around. She sits at the top of the draw after coming in as a wildcard and this could be a good work hour for here. There really isn’t any great threat to her in the quarter, not in terms of stopping her getting on the quarterfinals.
Opposing her there could be someone likes Timea Babos or seventh seed Kirsten Flipkens. But Garcia lost in the first round of Shenzhen in her season opener and is badly in need of form. So she should be fired up.
The second quarter has a couple of stronger dark horses going in it. You have fourth seed Maria Sakkari and sixth seed Alize Cornet. There is a decent chance there for one of them to come through a fairly easy section and fight it out for that semi-final berth. Belinda Bencic is right up there at the head of the betting market, but she is unseeded for the event.
Bencic v Buzarnescu blockbuster
But the draw pits her on the opposite half of the draw to Garcia. Bencic starts down against second seed Mihaela Buzarnescu in the tournament’s first blockbuster match. There is a tricky quarter to potential have to get through with Johanna Larsson and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in there as well. Still, Bencic is the class act down there.
But we can’t skip over Buzarnescu. Why? Because she ran to the final here last year including taking out 4th seed Alize Cornet and 5th seeds Lesia Tsurenko along the way. So Buzarnescu may not be a bad option to look at, especially if she can overcome Bencic in that great opening fixture.
Britain’s Heather Watson is in the mix and she can take some inspiration from last season’s performance in Hobart. Watson ran all the way to the semi-finals where she was stopped by eventual winner Mertens, but across three sets. Watson had taken out third seed Sorana Cirstea in the opening round.
Predictions
It is a good competitive lineup heading into Hobart. Granted the field is not as strong as the Sydney one this week. But still, this is a good look at some of the potential dark horses for the Australian Open.
Buzarnescu is a fine enough each way option for the tournament down in that bottom half.
We feel that the winner of her opening match is going to go deep. We like the draw that Maria Sakkari has and is worth an each way poke as well at 16/1 odds* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on January 6th, 2019 at 6:04 p.m.)
