WTA Luxembourg: It is the final week of the regular season on the WTA Tour calendar, and this week we have some players trying to sharpen up their game ahead of the season finale in Istanbul (in which the top eight ranked women points earners qualify for from over the season), and attempting a last gasp effort to get to Turkey. We have two very interesting looking tournaments for your WTA betting to round off the season with as well. First stop is Luxembourg, where we have the fiery Victoria Azarenka leading the field which contains five of the world top twenty. Vika has climbed her way up to world number three after a wonderful season, particularly the second half, and while the Grand Slam titles have just eluded her, she has definitely progressed in her game. She has already booked her place in Istanbul for the third season in a row. The powerful Belarusian had to withdraw from her last tournament in Beijing a couple of weeks again because of a foot injury, but is fit and ready to go in search of her third title of the year. Worth getting behind Azarenka, as we always say on here. She has a good all-round game, not as much flair of some, but she seems to be carrying through a lot of momentum and form at the moment. Her service games are key for her, because is she wobbles there then she gets herself into trouble. Great draw ahead for Azarenka, a competitive one, but one which she should conquer. Could meet Maria Kirilenko in the quarter finals, but the semi final stage is where it could get really interesting. There is a potential meeting against in form Flavia Pennetta, which will be a tough match, or young German Julia Goerges, who was a runner up here last season.
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The Azarenka withdrew against in Beijing, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is one of our favourite dark horse bets always in WTA betting. Ranked 15th in the world, she is the youngest player in the top twenty in the world, and has made steady progress as well this year. She has three career titles under her belt and goes as second seed, meaning she wouldn’t meet Azarenka until the finals in BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open tennis betting. Pavlyuchenkova may have a slightly friendlier looking draw ahead and would fully expect to see her in the semi finals without too much stress. Potential semi final opponents are Daniela Hantuchova and young German Sabine Lisicki, the latter being the favourite to make it through. Inconsistency plagues Pavlyuchenkova a little bit, but she has a very good all round game and some smart ground strokes in her arsenal. Should only get better and a great chance here for her in Luxembourg and would heartily consider a good run from here. We can’t ignore the presence of Sabine Lisicki, who should meet the experienced Daniela Hantuchova in the quarter finals. Lisicki has rocketed up the world rankings this season after picking up a couple of titles. Lisicki didn’t get going in Linz last week, crashing out in the round of 32, which was a huge disappointment. Has been struggling to pick up her form since the US Open, but expect a bounce back soon. Italian Flavia Pennetta is always a dangerous floater in the draws, as proven when she reached the semi final of Beijing a couple of weeks ago, beating Caroline Wozniacki along the way. But she had to withdraw from Linz last week in the second round. If she is fit, then she should go deep. We should look at Julia Goerges here too, who has tournament form. She lost in the final against Roberta Vinci last season here, but is a better player than she was a year ago. The young German, another of the rising stars like Lisicki has potential, but still concerns over inconsistency. Should be looking at favourites Azarenka and Pavlyuchenkova here.
Tip: Pavlyuchenkova
BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open tennis betting odds:
Victoria Azarenka 3/1, Ana Ivanovic 5/1, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 9/1, Maria Kirilenko 9/1, Daniela Hantuchova, Julia Goerges 14/1, Flavia Pennetta 14/1 at Victor Chandler
WTA Kremlin Cup: Over in Moscow we have the Kremlin Cup running, the final WTA Premier event of the season, with six of the world’s top twenty in action, in a pretty good field. The red hot Agnieszka Radwanska is back in action, after winning back to back titles recently on her Asian swing of the season. The young Pole blitzed her way through the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the China Open to put herself in with a great chance of making the end of season finale, the WTA Championships in Istanbul. Those wins has pulled her up into eight place in the Race for Istanbul, and she looks pretty certain to take that final spot. Cannot argue about the form of Radwanska at the moment, and should be a strong contender at the Kremlin Cup. Not too bad of a draw for her either, with Francesca Schiavone (who won this title a couple of years ago) or Svetlana Kuznetsova looking a likely semi final opponent. Up until that point, really don’t see anyone troubling the in form Pole. But it will Russian native Vera Zvonareva, world number 5, who will be the star attraction on home soil. Zvonareva goes off as top seed for the Kremlin Cup, with her place in Istanbul already secured. Zvonareva has been struggling for form for a large part of the season, with 2011 paling into comparison to what she achieved last season. However, she is fighter and has a good draw. Dominika Cibulkova, who Zvonareva could meet in the quarter finals, made it to the final of Linz last week (losing to Petra Kvitova), awaits her first title and could be a tricky opponent. However it is probably that we could see Zvonareva square off against a tougher opponent in the semi finals. The top half of the draw for the Kremlin Cup looks great. Particularly the top half. At the quarter final stage we could see a big match up between Marion Bartoli and Jelena Jankovic. Serbian Jankovic went to the semi final stage in Linz last week, a good turn around in form for her, while Bartoli, the bubbling bundle of energy, has been in great shape all season. Bartoli picked up the title in Osaka last week, beating US Open champion Sam Stosur in the final, a tournament which Bartoli had to win to keep her hopes of making the WTA Championships alive. She did that in style, and will be a threat here. The outside chance that Bartoli has of making it to Istanbul, means that she needs to win here at the Kremlin Cup as well to earn enough points, and she needs Agnieszka Radwanska to not get past the second round in the Russian capital. An outside chance at best for the energetic Frenchwoman, but probably a little too late for her.
Tip: Radwanska
WTA Kremlin Cup Tennis Betting Odds
Vera Zvonareva 2/1, Agnieszka Radwanska 9/2, Jelena Jankovic 5/1, Svetlana Kuznetsova 6/1, Marion Bartoli 7/1 at Victor Chandler
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