June 1, 2011

French Open Betting Preview: Na Li vs. Maria Sharapova Live Predictions

French Open betting action continues on Thursday afternoon on the clay courts of Roland Garros, and here at Bang the Book, we have all of the festivities covered. In the first women’s semifinal on Court Philippe Chatrier, No. 6 Na Li will take on No. 7 Maria Sharapova for the right to move on to Saturday’s finale.

Li is considered the unheralded star of this event, as we know that it really could be her time to shine. She was a finalist in the Australian Open, and now, she has a chance to make it to her second straight Grand Slam final after never having made it beyond the semifinals in a major in her career. Li was really up against it earlier this week against Petra Kvitova in the fourth round of this event, having to battle back from down a set after getting rolled 6-2 in the first stanza, but she stormed back to a 6-1, 6-3 win in the second and third sets. On Tuesday, Li found herself in a lot of trouble in the first set against No. 4 Victoria Azarenka, but she battled back and used four badly timed unforced errors by the Belarus native to win the first set. She converted on five breaks on 11 chances and stormed to a 7-5, 6-2 straight sets victory. Now, Li is the second highest ranked player left in this field, and if she can figure out how to make it past Sharapova, she will likely end up being favored to win her first Grand Slam tournament in her career.

Many have figured out how to claim three of the four jewels in the Grand Slam in women’s tennis betting action, but few have won all four for a career Grand Slam. Sharapova is just two wins away from completing the career Slam, something that hasn’t been accomplished by any of her contemporaries since both Venus Williams and Serena Williams pulled it off. Of course, it has been quite some time since Sharapova really has been this relevant in an event. She was a quarterfinalist here at the French Open back in 2009, but aside from that, she hadn’t even made it into the quarters of a Grand Slam event since winning the 2008 Australian Open. The match that she had against Andrea Petkovic was as dominating of a match as any woman has had in this tournament to date. The German never stood a chance against the Russian beauty, as Sharapova absolutely cleaned the floor with Petkovic 6-0, 6-3. Sharapova was dominating on her opponents’ serve, coming up with seven breaks in just eight games.

Eventually, Sharapova is going to figure out how to get her service back, and when she does, she’s going to be as deadly as it comes. Li has been a great story, but this is the Russian’s time once again. Sharapova -210 might seem like some relatively short French Open betting lines, but when push comes to shove, it is absolutely the right play in what should be a straight sets victory for the Russian.

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Adam Markowitz

is a staff writer living in the Orlando area. He has covered NFL, MLB, college football, CFL, AFL, NBA, college basketball, NASCAR, golf, tennis, and the NHL for a number of various outlets in his career, and he has been published by a number of different media outlets, including the Orlando Sentinel and the Wall Street Journal.