WTA Miami Tennis Predictions & Winner Odds

Competitive action set for Miami

Tennis Betting

There was a shock at Indian Wells over the weekend with Canadian wild card Bianca Andreescu coming through to beat Angelique Kerber to win her first ever WTA title. That was some historic moment happening there and it will pique the interest of bettors ahead of this week’s action in Miami.

For this week’s action in Florida, it is Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams who head the field as 7/1 joint-favourites* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 18th, 2019 at 8:10 pm). This is the first time that the tournament will be hosted at its brand new venue the Hard Rock Stadium.

WTA Miami 2019 winner odds*

Naomi Osaka 7/1
Serena Williams 7/1
Simona Halep 8/1
Angelique Kerber 9/1
Elina Svitolina 13/1
Petra Kvitova 14/1
Bianca Andreescu 14/1
Karolina Pliskova 14/1
Sloane Stephens 18/1
Aryna Sabalenka 22/1
Ashleigh Barty 25/1
Belinda Bencic 33/1
Elise Mertens 33/1
36/1 bar
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 18th, 2019 at 8:10 pm)

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Kerber and Andreescu to go back at it?

Right off the bat for this Premier Mandatory tournament, there could be a rematch between Angelique Kerber and Bianca Andreescu in the third round. That would be something after their meeting in the showcase match at Indian Wells. Kerber is rocketing up the ranking and is at 9/1 outright to win in Miami* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 18th, 2019 at 8:10 pm).

That run at Indian Wells was Kerber’s best effort of the season so far. It’s tough to imagine that the unseeded Andreescu is going to find a way to power through back to back high ranking events like this. It is not too realistic. Those two are in the top quarter where 9th seed Aryna Sabalenka is. She lost to Kerber last week at Indian Wells. The winner of this quarter may have to face world number one Naomi Osaka in the quarters.

Osaka couldn’t make much headway in her Indian Wells title defence last week, going out at the fourth round to Naomi Osaka. That was just her second tournament since this year’s Australian Open win. In the fourth round of Miami, Osaka could be going up against Caroline Wozniacki. Petra Kvitova has had a good season with three finals already behind her, the most recent a loss in Dubai to Belinda Bencic.

Tough path for Halep

Simona Halep suffered a shock defeat to teenager Marketa Vondrousova at Indian Wells last week and there’s not a particularly easy path for the Romanian in Miami. She would have to deal with Venus Williams in her quarter (who was a quarterfinalist at Indian Wells) and the winner of that section may well have to deal with Serena Williams in the quarterfinals itself.

Serena Williams has won eight Miami titles during her career. Williams came through a big second round match against Victoria Azarenka at Indian Wells, before retiring from her next match against Garbine Muguruza. A viral illness was the cause of her withdrawal. Williams is 7/1 to power her way to a ninth Miami title* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 18th, 2019 at 8:10 pm).

Stephens defending Champion

The reigning Miami Open champion is Sloane Stephens. It hasn’t been a spectacular season from the American at all, going 5-5 in 2019. She comes in straight at the second round of Miami. In the same quarter as the reigning champion is last year’s losing finalist Jelena Ostapenko and fifth seed Karolina Pliskova.

The other interesting name in the mix in the section is Belinda Bencic who has beaten six top-ten players in recent action and is a 33/1 each way option this week* (betting odds taken from bet365 on March 18th, 2019 at 8:10 pm).

Prediction

This will be another great, wide open field and there could be some big early clashes going down as well. Simona Halep’s path doesn’t look particularly great for her, but it will be interesting to see how much Serena Williams has recovered from her illness which saw her pull out of Indian Wells.

In the last two seasons, we have had slightly surprising winners of Johanna Konta and Sloane Stephens come through the pack.

That suggests that perhaps it’s worth looking beyond the front runners. Kerber has looked the most stable of the front runners but the long week in California won’t have helped her. So it is Petra Kvitova who, after a slip at Indian Wells who could come back firing on a new surface in a new stadium. Her form has been excellent in general in 2019.