Williams to secure Golden Slam with Sharapova Olympic victory
Published:Serena Williams has had the upper hand over Maria Sharapova since 2005 and this seven-year dominance can ensure that she takes Olympic gold at 1/5.
Meanwhile, world number one Victoria Azarenka can also ensure that she gains a medal in her encounter with another Russian and is 1/4 to defeat Maria Kirilenko.
Serena Williams to beat Maria Sharapova 2-0 @ 4/7
The final is arguably worth more than gold for both players, as whoever wins will complete the career Golden Slam too.
Williams has won doubles Olympic gold before with sister Venus, while for Sharapova this is her first Olympics.
The bad news for Sharapova is that not only is Williams the reigning Wimbledon champion from last month, but the American has won the last seven encounters between the two.
Williams has triumphed in all three since 2008 in straight sets and the fact that she has dropped 16 games in winning five Olympic matches thus far shows the calibre of her current form.
A victory for Sharapova would mean that Russia have won back-to-back Olympic golds in the women’s singles after Elena Dementieva’s success four years ago.
Victoria Azarenka to win 1st set against Maria Kirilenko @ 1/3
It seems set to be a bad day for the Russians as Kirilenko is unlikely to take the bronze from Azarenka, particularly as she has lost the last two meetings between the pair.
However, the fact she pushed Agnieszka Radwanksa to the wire at Wimbledon and has beaten Petra Kvitova already at the Olympics, suggests there is a chance the match could go to three sets.
Although Azarenka winning 2-0 and the match having under 20.5 games potentially look solid prices, Kirilenko’s latest form does through a slight doubt over these.
Safer is that Azarenka wins the first set, as she has in her last three meetings with Kirilenko.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
