Venus Williams vs. Coco Vandeweghe Preview
Where: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia
When: Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Line: Venus Williams (+125) vs. Coco Vandeweghe (-155) – view all 2017 Australian Open Women’s Singles lines
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Betting on Venus Williams (+125)
At 36 years of age, Venus Williams is still refusing to let her tennis career drive off into the sunset just yet. She’s having one of her better outings in a Grand Slam tournament of late, recently defeating Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets in the fourth round of the Australian Open, 6-4, 7-6(3).
The 13th-seeded entrant was unstoppable from up-close, managing to convert 13 of her 16 chances of points on net. Williams also knocked in 35 winners to Pavlyuchenkova’s 17 for her to make it back to the semifinal round of the Aussie Open after 14 long years. She has now improved her lifetime singles record at the event to 45-16, leaving plenty of fans eager for her to win her eighth-career Grand Slam title and first since 2008.
However, the tournament Down Under has been a bane to Venus’ illustrious career. She has yet to win an Australian Open singles title, and the same can be said about her past ventures at Roland Garros too.
Then again, Williams does bear a slight edge heading into Wednesday’s clash: a win over her next opponent. She had beaten Vandeweghe in straight sets in their only head-to-head meeting from last year at the Rome Masters, albeit that the tournament was held on clay and not on the hard court.
Betting on Coco Vandeweghe (-155)
If 35th-ranked Coco Vandeweghe isn’t a household name in tennis just yet, perhaps her amazing run at the Australian Open will change that very perception.
Vandeweghe needed less than an hour and a half to stun World No. 7 Garbine Muguruza in their fourth-round clash with a clinical 6-4, 6-0 straight-sets victory. The 25-year-old played out of her mind to oust the defending French Open champion from the tournament by converting 88 percent of her chances of points on first serve and going a perfect 5-of-5 in her approaches on net. Furthermore, she also denied the Spaniard to cash in on just two break-point opportunities from the entire match.
Being a huge Venus Williams fan growing up, Vandeweghe might have some bittersweet sentiments heading into Wednesday’s showdown against one of her life-long heroines. Then again, when you consider that you’ve had five first-round exits and have not gone further than the third round in seven trips to the Australian Open until now, besting an all-time great is one goal that’s too important to pass up on and ultimately prove that your time is now.
Plus, it’s not as if Vandeweghe has gotten this far in Melbourne by sheer luck of the draw. She eliminated two top-10 players in succession, with top-seeded Angelique Kerber being her fourth-round victim. And not only did Coco pull back-to-back upsets over Kerber and Muguruza, she beat both of them in convincing, straight-sets fashion at that. In fact, four of Vandeweghe’s five wins in the tournaments were in straight sets.
Writer’s Prediction
The young upstart finally outwits her idol, as Vandeweghe (-155) defeats Williams in three sets.
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