The fixture between Angelique Kerber and Monica Puig will take place on Saturday, August 13, 2016, at 5 p.m. ET at the Olympic Tennis Center in Rio de Janeiro. The match will be broadcast live on Bravo.
Tennis Odds at BookMaker.eu
Angelique Kerber -460
Monica Puig +360
Odds Analysis
Kerber has had one heck of a year. She won the Australian Open in January and turned around and made the finals of Wimbledon in the summer as well. Her fantastic year has continued here in the Olympics, and she has a shot to claim a second tremendous championship on a hard court this year, a win which would make her a real contender to be the favorite at the U.S. Open in a couple weeks.
It's truly a shock to see Puig here. She has never made it into the second week of any major tournament, and she only has one WTA title in her career with an incredibly marginal 220-139 record. She's ranked No. 34 in the world. This isn't going to change any of that of course, but there's no doubt that she's already accomplished more here in a few days in Rio than she ever had in her career.
As a result, it's not surprising that Kerber is a massive -460 favorite of the oddsmakers. She's very likely only going to go up from here, so if you want to get down on the German, now is the time to do so.
How They Got Here
Puig has pulled off some massive upsets already here in this tournament. She made it past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round in straight sets, and had that been where she bowed out, it would have been a heck of an accomplishment. However, her next match against Garbine Muguruza was a remarkable upset. She was a 6 to 1 dog in that matchup and should have easily bowed out in straight sets.
Instead, Puig was a monster, sweeping in straight sets in 6-1, 6-1 fashion. From there, she was able to take care of Germany's Laura Siegemund in the quarterfinals and Petra Kvitova in the semis. The match against Kvitova was a tremendous shock as well. She did win the first set, but after losing the second set, she came back and took the decisive set to win the match.
Kerber has had a more traditional trip into the gold medal match in Rio. She has had to play a tremendous docket to get to this point, beating No. 13 Samantha Stosur, No. 10 Johanna Konta and No. 7 Madison Keys over the course of the last four days. Now, it's up Kerber to claim another gold medal for Germany against Puerto Rico's Puig in what should be her easiest match since the opening couple days of the tourney.
Free Tennis Pick
Theoretically, Kerber should be able to romp here. Puig has had a tremendous run, and to win this match for her country and claim the nation's first ever gold medal in either the Summer or Winter Olympics.
The biggest problem Puig is going to have is the fact that she is going to go against arguably the best hard court player in the world today.
It's really tough to lay this lumber against Puig, but Kerber would have been a -1000 favorite in this match had she ultimately met Puig in the second or third round. From that standpoint alone, we have to believe that Kerber is going to end up claiming the gold medal.
Tennis Odds: Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-3
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
