Sharapova and Jankovic crash out of China Open second round
Published:Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic both suffered shock second round defeats in Beijing to leave Caroline Wozniacki a strong favourite to win her 12th WTA title.
Sharapova’s miserable couple of weeks continued when Elena Vesnina defeated her compatriot in straight sets, condemming Sharapova to her third defeat in four matches.
A shock loss to Kimiko Date Krumm in the Toray Pan Pacific Open first round last week and her loss to Caroline Wozniacki in the US Open means Sharapova drops out of the world’s top 20 and is on her worst run of results in seven years.
Jankovic also went out of the tournament to fellow compatriot Bojana Jovanovski in straight sets leaving Caroline Wozniacki a strong 2/1 favourite to win the China Open, with Vera Zvonareva her closest challenger in the betting market at 7/2.
Both Wozniacki and Zvonareva are in action on the main court tomorrow and both are favourites to progress to the third round and fourth round respectively.
Zvonareva is up first against Maria Kirilenko in an all-Russian clash at 8.05am, and Zvonareva is a 3/10 favourite to win the match.
Considering Zvonareva’s 4-0 head-to-head record over Kirilenko, the 12/5 for Kirilenko to win may be a bit short but Kirilwnko pushed Zvonareva all the way in their last meeting in August.
Zvonareva won 2-1 thanks to a tiebreak in the final set and she is 11/4 to win 2-1 this time.
Wozniacki plays little known Italian Sara Errani in the second round but Errani is one of few players who holds an unbeaten record over Wozniakci.
Granted they have only met once in 2008, but the 11/2 available for Errani to win may be worth a look considering Wozniacki is fresh from a win in the Toray Pan Pacific Open and may not have fully recovered.
Wozniacki is a 1/10 favourite to beat Errani. See the full China Open betting odds market here.
