Australian Open: Williams and Sharapova to show class
Published:Serena Williams’ 2011 may have largely been spent on the treatment table, but this year promises to be a much more enjoyable one for the 13-times Grand Slam champion.
Williams is a huge 1/20 favoruite to make it to the quarter finals with a win over World No.56 Ekaterina Makarova.
Williams has won the Australian Open on five separate occasions and should see off a player who crashed out in the fourth round last year.
Backing Williams to win in straight sets looks the only bet worth taking on at a less than massive 1/6.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova – who won the title back in 2008 – is expected to progress against Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and can be backed at 1/3 to make it to the quarter finals.
However, Sharapova crashed out at the same stage last year and the German has been very decent so far in the competition and can be backed at 5/2 to win.
The World No.15 has dropped two sets so far in her opening three matches though and Sharapova should have more than enough to make the quarter finals.
The five-times Grand Slam champion had not lost a set so far and has dropped just five games in her opening three matches.
Backing Sharpova to win 2-0 looks like the bet to take on at 5/6.
