The Weekly Accumulator: Kvitova to be made to work to progress
Published:Unsurprisingly for games in the second round of the Australian Open in the women’s draw, all of the big guns are hugely short favourites to progress deeper into the tournament.
Serena Williams is 1/50 to win her first ever meeting with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Maria Sharapova is 1/20 to triumph over young US star Jamie Hampton.
Also in action is tournament favourite Petra Kvitova, who is 1/50 to beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
Kvitova may have only dropped two games when beating Vera Dushevina in her Melbourne opener, but there are reasons to believe that Suarez Navarro will provide a sterner test.
The Spaniard needs to win a minimum of five games in the match to make our accumulator addition a success and she has claimed at least eight in her two previous showdowns with Kvitova.
In total, we have picked six bets in the women’s draw from day four which pay a combined 12/1.
Others include, Marion Bartoli to repeat her straight-set triumph over Jelena Dokic from earlier in January in Sydney and Angelique Kerber to make it two wins from two against Stephanie Dubois.
Sorana Cirstea caused the shock of the first round when beating leading home hope Sam Stosur and can advance again by beating Urszula Radwanska, while Jie Zheng’s recent tournament victory in Auckland can help her defeat Roberta Vinci.
Finally, Shahar Peer looks a big price to beat Sabine Lisicki given how many unforced errors the German made in beating Stefanie Voegele in the opening round.
Australian Open selections
Angelique Kerber to beat Stephanie Dubois @ 1/8
Sorana Cirstea to beat Urszula Radwanska @ 4/9
Jie Zheng to beat Roberta Vinci @ 4/9
Shahar Peer to beat Sabine Lisicki @ 1/1
Marion Bartoli to beat Jelena Dokic in straight sets @ 2/5
Over 16.5 games between Petra Kvitova and Carla Suarez Navarro @ 5/6
