WTA Sony Open Betting: Serena set to lead top seeds through

 

 

With the opening set of matches completed, the top names in the women's game enter the fray at the Sony Open on Thursday as the second round gets underway.

 

 

 

Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska begins proceedings, while the highly anticipated arrival of Serena Williams will certainly draw a great reaction from the Miami faithful, as she plays in her first tournament since an historic return to world number one.

 

Having received a bye in the first round, fourth seed Radwanska starts the day's action against Su Wei Hsieh. The Polish star will be keen to get her title defence off to a strong start, and despite the unseeded Hsieh battling past Lesia Tsurenko in the previous round, the likelihood of Radwanska coming through unscathed is reflected in her favourable odds to win @ 1.07.

 

The showpiece event in Miami also signals the long awaited return of world number five Li Na. Na has been absent from the court since the Australian Open, having struggled with an on-going ankle injury. While she remains a strong favourite to overcome Kiki Bertens, it will be interesting to see what effect the enforced absence has had on her game.

 

Attention then switches to Serena, who will have her hands full against Flavia Pennetta. The Italian brushed aside Johanna Larsson in her opening round match, and has history of defeating reigning World No.1s at the event in Miami. She also provided a huge scare against her opponent at the same venue back in 2008 where she led by a set and 3-0.

 

However, Williams will be unconcerned with that as she looks to seal a record-breaking sixth title in Miami and celebrate becoming the oldest female player ever to reach the top spot in the world in style.

Her sister, Venus, wraps up the day's play when she takes on Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm. The elder of the Williams sisters has now worked her way back up to 18th in the world rankings, and will have one eye on the third round.

 

Ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki is also in action on Thursday, looking to overcome what appears to be a relatively easy obstacle in unseeded Karolina Pliskova.

 

Despite suffering a demoralizing defeat in the final at Indian Wells at the hands of Maria Sharapova just last week, Wozniacki will be determined to return to the court and go one better in Miami and is likely to face few problems against her Czech opponent.

 

Elsewhere, seventh seed Petra Kvitova takes on Shuai Peng and will be confident of progressing. The hard-hitting Czech reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells before coming unstuck against Maria Kirilenko.

However, with a favourable draw she could conceivably have a similarly decent run in Miami and will be keen to avoid any early slip-ups.

 

The same could be said for Marion Bartoli, with the number 10 seed also reaching the quarter-finals last time out and is in the same part of the draw as Kvitova. However, that is where the similarities end as she faces a potential upset against Andrea Petkovic.

 

The German wildcard entrant was expected to struggle in the first round, but dropped just four games en route to setting up the Bartoli clash. If a seed is to fall, this could be the game in which it happens.

 

Recommended Bets

Back S. Williams to win 2-0 vs Pennetta @ 1.19

Back Li -5.5 games vs Bertens @ 2.16

Wozniacki to win 2-0 vs Pliskova @ 1.59

Petkovic to beat Bartoli @ 2.12

Under 19.5 games in V. Williams vs Date-Krumm @ 2.10

 

Bet HERE

 

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