The season ending WTA Championship is played in Turkey for the first time and features 2011’s top eight women in world tennis. Neither of the Williams sisters made it into this year’s final, however, the eight that did qualify represent the cream of women’s tennis. Being the last event of the year, these players can go into this event with nothing to lose, plenty to gain, and the knowledge there’s a couple of months break coming. It’s certainly going to be difficult for punters to find winners.
What makes this event very different to most tennis tournaments is the round-robin format. Rather than being an elimination competition, the eight women are divided into two groups – red and white. They play each opponent in their group once with the top performers proceeding to the semi-finals. The women are divided into each group based on their world rankings.
The White group has Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, French Open champion Li Na and US Open winner Samantha Stosur while the Red group has Caroline Wozniacki, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska. The White group looks the easier from a punter’s perspective. Sharapova has 9-0 win record over Stosur while Azarenka holds a 4-0 record against Stosur as well. Stosur has 5-0 record over Li Na. The carrot for Stosur is the possibility of claiming the number 2 world ranking should she win. This group looks well set up for Sharapova and Azarenka to claim the semi finals positions.
In the Red group, this too looks to be set up well for the top two players. Wozniacki and Kvitova have been playing well and it will be a surprise to see them not making the semi-finals. However, this is tennis and anything can happen on the day. A lot too will depend on how fresh these players are following a long and tough season.
Tennis betting has Victoria Azarenka favourite to win the Championship at 4/1 ahead of Petra Kvitova at 5/1, Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki at 7/1, Samantha Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska at 10/1, Vera Zvonareva at 12/1 and Li Na at 20/1.
We’re tipping Kvitova – she’s in good form, has the game to match it up to anyone, and appears to have that champion determination. That’s a trait that has also appeared this season in Samantha Stosur, and we’re tipping her as the long shot surprise package. There is one thing I do know, if you get a chance to watch these games, we, the spectators, are going to be the real winners from this tournament.