Category: Tennis

The Brisbane International is being played in Australia this week for the first time since 2019 with both a men’s and women’s draw. It’s the second-to-last tournament before the Australian Open, the first of four grand slams in the 2024 tennis season. While world No. 1 Iga Swiatek and other top WTA players opted instead to compete in the United Cup, the women’s draw in Brisbane nonetheless featured several high-profile players, including Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, both of whom are through to the semi-finals.

The WTA Brisbane semi-finals begin Friday night at 10 p.m. ET with the first of two semi-finals. The finals will be played Saturday night, or Sunday morning in Australia. Here’s a look at the two semi-final matches and what to expect for the final.

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A Review of the Draw

The 48-player draw featured a high contingent of Russian players as the country was banned from competing in the mixed-gender United Cup. Six of the top eight seeds were from Russia. Sabalenka, the top seed, earned her spot in the semis with three consecutive straight set victories over Lucia Bronzetti, Zhu Lin, Daria Kasatkina, dropping only nine games in that stretch. Her semi-final opponent, Victoria Azarenka, reached the semis with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 quarter-final win over Jelena Ostapenko.

Rybakina, meanwhile, advanced to the semi-finals after her quarter-final opponent, Anastasia Potapova, retired in the second set. She also beat Elise Mertens and Olivia Gadecki. Her semi-final opponent, Linda Noskova, earned a spot in the final four with an upset win over Mirra Andreeva in the quarters.

Semi-Final Previews

Elena Rybakina (-526) vs. Linda Noskova (+377)

Both of these semi-finals feel inevitable. Rybakina and Sabalenka are far and away the best players in the draw and are likely to meet in another WTA final. Noskova, however, has the benefit of playing with nothing to lose. The Czech player needed three sets – and two tiebreaks – to beat qualifier Timea Babos in the first round and won her next two matches in three sets before scoring a straight set win over Andreeva. She could be peaking at the right moment, but she’s in tough against Rybakina.

Rybakina and Noskova have played each other just once on the WTA Tour, with Rybakina winning last June in straight sets on clay courts in Paris. Rybakina is also a much better hard court player and should be able to take advantage of that on Saturday.

Aryna Sabalenka (-667) vs. Victoria Azarenka (+454)

While Azarenka is a much more experienced and arguably talented player than Noskova, she still doesn’t have much of a chance against the far more talented Sabalenka, who is a massive betting favorite with tennis odds of -667. Sabalenka has cruised through to the semi-finals, whereas Azarenka has needed three sets to win each of her last two matches. 

Sabalenka, who is nearly 10 years younger than Azarenka, has been on court almost three hours fewer than Azarenka and is 3-1 in her career against the fellow Russian. She’s also a dominant hard court player, going through 38-9 over the last two seasons.

Finals Prediction

Sabalenka is 5-2 in seven career matches against Rybakina so, assuming that’s the match-up, she will have the advantage in tennis odds and predictions. She’s 4-2 against her on hard court.

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An international hard court tournament played on hard courts with mixed-gender teams from 18 countries, the United Cup takes place in Australia and serves as the kick off to both the WTA and ATP Tour seasons. The inaugural tournament was held last year and this year’s event takes place from December 29 to January 7 at RAC Arena and Ken Rosewall Arena.

Let’s take a look back at last year’s inaugural tournament with a look ahead to some of the important matches this weekend for the 2024 United Cup.

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2023 United Cup Recap

Teams play in six groups of three countries at the United Cup. Last year’s champion, the United States, won their group with a 2-0 record against the Czech Republic and Germany. Greece, Poland, Great Britain, Italy, and Croatia also won their groups with 2-0 records.

The three winners then play in single elimination games with each winner advancing to the semifinals along with the losing team with the best record in matches and sets. The US beat Poland and Italy beat Greece in last year’s semifinals. The US then beat Italy 4-0 in the final with Jessica Pegula, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, and Madison Keys scoring singles victories.

2024 United Cup Changes

This year’s tournament again features six groups of three teams and top eight teams, including the group winners, advance to the knockout stage. There’s only three matches (2 singles and 1 doubles) in the group stage matches. The final will be played in Sydney on January 7. 

Weekend Previews

Poland vs. Brazil 

Poland has yet to play in the group stage, but will take on Brazil on Saturday. Brazil opened its tournament with a 2-1 loss to Spain and needs a win against Poland to keep their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals alive. That could be a tall order, however, as the matchups favor Poland.

Iga Swiatek is due to face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first of the three matches. Swiatek is 1-1 in two matches against Beatriz Haddad, but is the much more talented player and the current world No. 1. She has 17 singles titles compared to just three for Haddad Maia. Hubert Hurkacz plays Thiago Seyboth Wild in the other singles match. They’ve never played but, again, Hurkacz is the much higher rated player and has had more success than Seyboth Wild.

Swiatek and Hurkacz will then pair to take on Haddad Maia and Marcelo Melo in doubles action.

Canada vs. Chile

Canada, which won the Billie Jean King Cup this year and the Davis Cup last year, has been one of the most impressive countries in international tennis over the last few years. They’ll look to complete the trifecta with a United Cup victory next week and begin their journey on Sunday against Chile. 

Leylah Fernandez, who was instrumental in helping Canada win the Billie Jean King Cup, takes on Daniela Seguel in the first match. Felix Auger-Aliassime is scheduled to play Nicolas Jarry in the second. This shapes up to be an easy victory for the Canadians.

Final Prediction

Canada arguably has one of the easier draws, although they’ll face a challenge from Greece. Great Britain is in a good position with a 1-0 record already, having beaten host Australia. It’s anyone’s bet as to what teams will make the quarters at this point, but Canada, Great Britain, and Italy should all offer great value in tennis futures.

As tennis fans worldwide await the start of the 2024 season in Australia, there are still some intriguing matchups on the WTA Tour, most notably this weekend in the 2023 Open de Limoges. This WTA 125 series event, played on indoor hard courts in Limoges, France, began on Monday with a 32-player draw and is now into the quarter-finals. It features five players inside the top-100 world rankings, including top seed and No. 48 Elisabetta Cocciaretto and world No. 50 Anna Blinkova, both of whom are into the quarters.

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Tournament Recap

Cocciaretto, the top seed in the Open de Limoges, dropped the opening set in her first-round match against Amandine Hesse, but rebounded to win the match 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. She cruised to a straight set victory against Darja Semenistaja in the second round and is due to face Erika Andreeva in the quarters on Friday. Blinkova, the second seed, advanced to the quarters via consecutive straight set victories over Veronika Podrez and Nigina Abduraimova. 

The quarter-finals also features the fifth and seventh seeds (Cristina Bucsa and Andreeva), along with wild cards Anastasija Sevastova and LOis Boisson, and Elsa Jacquemot and Harmony Tan, the latter of whom has only played one match after earning a walk/over victory against fellow French player and sixth seed Alize Cornet in the second round.

Quarter-Final Matches

Cristina Bucsa vs. Lois Boisson

Bucsa led the match 1-0 after winning the first set in a tiebreaker as of press time. Assuming she holds on for the victory, she would play the winner of Tan and Blinkova in the semi-finals.

Harmony Tan vs. Anna Blinkova 

Tan comes into this match more rested than Blinkova, but that shouldn’t be an issue for the world No. 50 as Blinkova has a 1-0 career advantage over Tan, beating her in three sets last year on clay at the Open 35 de Saint-Malo.

Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Erika Andreeva 

Cocciaretto is the top seed in the tournament and, outside of a surprising loss in the first set of her first match, has looked good thus far. Andreeva, meanwhile, is the world No. 120, but has a victory over Cocciaretto, beating her on clay in 2022. Although her victory was on clay, she has been a much better indoor hard court player this season, with an 11-10 record. Cocciaaretto is just 8-10 on the surface.

Elsa Jacquemont vs. Anastasija Sevastova

These two players have never met on the WTA Tour. Sevastova, a former world No. 11, has the experience advantage and is 13 years older than Jacquemont. However, she has only played five matches this season and may hit a wall in the quarters. Jacquemont is also 16-12 on indoor hard courts, so she’s a good option for an upset victory.

Weekend Predictions

Blinkova is the second-highest seed in the tournament and one of the tennis betting favorites to win. She should cruise to victory against Tan and is arguably the best bet to make the finals as she would be favored against either Bucsa or Boisson. The top half of the bracket is a little tougher to predict, but Andreeva might be the favorite.

Finals Prediction: Blinkova def. Andreeva

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The 2023 Roland Garros tennis tournament has a different feel when compared to other recent editions. In past years, it was known that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were in top form and were going to meet at the event. The odds would indicate that it would be very likely that one of them would capture the crown. This year, that is not the case, but it’s less due to slumps and more due to the effects of the aging process for elite athletes. Maybe we’ll have a changing of the guards? The odds at BetAnySports.eu suggest that could be the case.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, there are two primary contenders. Iga Swiatek is a heavy favorite, but can anyone challenge her? Let’s take a closer look as the 2023 French Open is just a couple of weeks away.

French Open Men’s Tournament

The French Open usually begins and ends with a battle involving Rafael Nadal (+300) and Novak Djokovic (+150). Not only did the two players meet in each of the past three French Opens, they met in different rounds of the tournament in each of those three years. They met in the 2020 final, then the 2021 semifinals, then the 2022 quarterfinals. This year, Nadal has not played a single clay-court match due to prolonged injury problems and an inability to make a quick recovery. Djokovic hasn’t played in several weeks due to elbow problems. He will play in Rome, but he still faces some health questions and does not have as many matches as he surely would have preferred heading into the tournament. He’s in a better position than Nadal, but still not in an ideal spot.

The clear favorite, due to the health problems faced by Nadal and Djokovic, is Carlos Alcaraz (+175), who just won Madrid for the second straight time and will be a top-two seed at this tournament. Alcaraz and Djokovic will be in opposite halves of the draw, so where Nadal, Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner, and other second-tier contenders land in the bracket will all be important stories to watch at the tournament. It will obviously be important for Djokovic and Nadal to play their way into form in the first week of the tournament, getting a balance between tough tests and yet not being overextended, so that they can find their rhythm but also be exposed to different playing styles which will help them to adjust.

French Open Women’s Tournament

The women’s tournament is fascinating, because in recent years, there have been dominant individual players in women’s tennis: Serena Williams several years ago, Ashleigh Barty in 2021, and Iga Swiatek (-110) in 2022.

In 2023, we have seen Swiatek play solid tennis, but she has been eclipsed by Aryna Sabalenka (+1400), who won the Australian Open, made the Indian Wells final, and then beat Swiatek in the recent Madrid final. Sabalenka has had the best start to the season for any women’s tennis player this year.

Elena Rybakina (+1100) made the Australian Open and Indian Wells finals plus the Miami final. She won Indian Wells. Rybakina has had the second-best season on the WTA Tour behind Sabalenka and ahead of Swiatek. To be clear, Swiatek – still World No. 1 in the rankings – has been good. However, two other players have been better than her through the first four and a half months of the 2023 tennis season. Swiatek has been great in France – the place is nicknamed “Poland Garros” because of her excellence at the French Open – but she has two really strong contenders for the Roland Garros crown, and that point simply can’t be ignored heading into the start of this tournament in late May.