The first major of the year is coming up on its halfway point, and we really don't have any more clarity now on the women's side of the Australian Open draw than we did at the outset of the tournament.
Australian Open Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Serena Williams +145
Victoria Azarenka +265
Agnieszka Radwanska +785
Maria Sharapova +1215
Belinda Bencic +4050
Angelique Kerber +4050
Madison Keys +4550
Ekaterina Makarova +5250
Karolina Pliskova +6550
Ana Ivanovic +11250
Carla Suarezz Navarro +15250
Any WTA Player Not Listed +4050
We've seen a couple of major upsets on the women's side already, most recently when Barbora Strycova upset No. 3 Garbine Muguruza on Friday night in the third round of the tournament.
With most of the third round matches completed at the time of publication of this article, there were just 10 ranked players left in the Australian Open on the women's side. No. 2 Simona Halep was a first day dismissal at the hands of Shuai Zhang, while she was joined by No. 16 Caroline Wozniacki on the sidelines early on after she was put down in three sets by Yulia Putintseva.
There are a few portions of this draw that have really opened up nicely, especially in the bottom of the bracket. On Friday night, Madison Keys and Ana Ivanovic will play against each other, and the winner will end up taking on an unranked player with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line. From there, with Muguruza out of the fold, there could be a clear path to the semifinals.
That's why things have really come together for Victoria Azarenka, who is now the second favorite to win the Australian Open at +265 even though she is ranked No. 14 in this field. Azarenka would've been favored over Muguruza anyway, but now that the Spaniard is out of the way, she won't have to face a ranked player in this tournament until perhaps the quarterfinals, and even then, the only other ranked player left in her quadrant is No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who is a huge longshot in her own right at +4050. Of course, it helps as well that Azarenka dropped a total of just three games in her first two matches heading in Friday night's duel with Japanese up and comer Naomi Osaka.
For our money, Agnieszka Radwanska might have a lot of value as well to win the Australian Open at +785. She only has one ranked player left standing in her way from a date in the semifinals, that being No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro, who is considered one of the longer shots on the board at +15250 in spite of her Top 10 ranking in this tournament.
Radwanska will be an overwhelming favorite to win her fourth round match against Anna-Lena Friedsman in straight sets just as she has in her first three, and she'd like be a huge favorite as well against Suarez Navarro.
But of course, the Australian Open goes through Serena Williams at the top of the bracket. The American came into this tournament nursing a bit of a knee injury, but to this point, we really haven't seen that play a big role. Williams was pushed a little bit in her opening match, but since that point, she's dropped a total of five games in two matches.
The big issue that Williams has is that she's the only one who hasn't really seen many upsets in her side of the draw. She'll get what should be a de facto walkover against Margarita Gasparyan in the fourth round, but after that, she'll get either No. 12 Belinda Bencic or No. 5 Maria Sharapova, both of which are amongst the favorites to win the Australian Open as well.
Williams could be forced to face Sharapova, Radwanska and Azarenka en route to a second straight Australian Open title odds, and that's a heck of a road.
Whichever woman comes out of the threesome of Williams, Bencic and Sharapova will surely end up being the favorite to win the Australian Open in the semifinals.
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