Belinda Bencic vs. Serena Williams Preview
Where: Melbourne Park – Melbourne, Australia
When: Monday, January 16, 2017
Line: Serena Williams (-600) vs. Belinda Bencic (+400) – view all 2017 Australian Open women’s lines
Writer’s Pick: Serena Williams (-600)
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Betting on Serena Williams (-600)
Serena Williams played in three Grand Slam finals for the second season in a row in 2016. But unlike her 3 finals wins in 2015, she had just one last year. She lost the 2016 Australian Open to Angelique Kerber. She also fell in the semifinals of the US Open to Karolina Pliskova.
It’s been a busy offseason for the World No. 1, who recently got engaged. However, she has assured everyone that she’s very much focused on the task at hand, which is reclaiming the Aussie Open.
Serena didn’t have the best showing in her first tournament of the season. She fell to World No. 69 Madison Brengle in three sets in the second round of the Auckland Classic.
Expect Serena to be a bit sharper for Melbourne, though. Williams has never crashed out of the first round in her Australian Open career. And with Bencic’s physical condition very much in question, Serena should be a safe bet to secure passage into Round 2.
Betting on Belinda Bencic (+400)
The once-bright star of Belinda Bencic has faded rapidly over the past year. After a terrific 2015 where she went 40-20 overall and 23-10 on hard surfaces, Bencic fell to just 18-21 overall last season.
Bencic started well enough as she reached the round of 16 in last year’s Australian Open. She also reached the final of her following tournament in St. Petersburg, but lost to Roberta Vinci. Since then, though, she failed to reach the second round in 9 of the 12 hard court tournaments she participated in.
Injuries have been a big reason for Bencic’s precipitous fall, particularly with her right foot. And unfortunately, it seems she hasn’t completely recovered from those injury woes. She was recently forced to retire in the first round of her first tournament of the year, the WTA Sydney event, due to pain in her foot.
It’s hard enough to beat World No. 1 Serena Williams fully healthy, and it’ll be close to impossible at less than 100 percent. Bencic actually does hold a win over Serena in the 2015 Canadian Masters, their lone meeting on hard court. However, she’ll be lucky if she can even finish her first-round match in her current condition, much less win it.
Writer’s Prediction
Serena Williams (-600) makes short work of Bencic and wins in straight-sets.
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