Focus on top half of women’s draw for Wimbledon value

With world number one Maria Sharapova out, the women’s draw at Wimbledon has become wide open and arguably it would be no major surprise if any of seven of the remaining eight players won the Grand Slam.

Serena Williams is the favourite in the Wimbledon odds at 9/4, but she has made hard work of the last two rounds and the matches are only going to get tougher the deeper she goes in the tournament.

Furthermore, she faces defending champion Petra Kvitova next, which is not the easiest of draws.

Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka has barely put a foot wrong in reaching this stage and only dropped a single game against Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round.

Meanwhile, a Wimbledon title will see her move back to the top of the WTA rankings.

She looks the safer option of the favourites at 7/2, but with Williams or Kvitova waiting in the semi finals if she can beat Tamira Paszek next, it may be worth focusing on the top half of the draw, which is devoid of the star names.

There is a strong chance that whoever reaches the final from the top section will go in as the underdog, but it is certainly worth taking a punt.

Sabine Lisicki clearly likes Wimbledon, reaching the semi finals last year and dumping out Sharapova in the fourth round this time.

Whatever happens in the top half, a first-time Wimbledon finalist is guaranteed and Lisicki could be worth a saver at 9/1 to win the Grand Slam.

She faces Angelique Kerber next, who has won all four previous meetings between the two and made light work of the opening four rounds at SW19, including a 6-1, 6-1 success over Kim Clijsters.

Kerber is 6/1 to win Wimbledon this year.

However, the best value may lie in Agnieszka Radwanska at 7/1, who entered as the number three seed, is proven on the surface as a former Wimbledon junior champion and has by far the easiest quarter final on paper against Maria Kirilenko.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.