Jelena Ostapenko vs Angelique Kerber
Both Jelena Ostapenko and Angelique Kerber have won a Slam title, but never Wimbledon.
Now, they are just two victories away from winning the All England Club major, oft-considered as the most prestigious of all the four Grand Slams.
Unfortunately, only one of them could move on to the Finals, and the SBOBET tennis odds point to an epic affair that could well go either way.
Kerber is familiar with the pressure of playing under the bright lights of Wimbledon, having reached the finals of the competition two years ago. However, Ostapenko is a Slam champion as well and although she’s just 21 years old, she has already proven her mettle by beating older and more experienced foes on her way to this stage.
Talking Points
Kerber, the former World No.1 and two-time major champion, is the highest seeded player (11th) left in the competition after the top 10 players fell one by one in the earlier rounds.
She has only lost one set so far in the competition—in her Round of 64 meeting with American Claire Liu—and is certainly in terrific form. She is also coming off a straight-set win over 14th seed Daria Kasatkina, a game in which she showcased her improved tennis and spectacular defence.
She took advantage of Kasatkina’s errors and erratic serving to win the game and return to the last four. The contest, which featured seven match points and a 25-shot rally, was far from easy for Kerber, but the 30-year-old made it up by playing clean tennis.
The German ace committed just 19 unforced errors against Kasatkina, marking the third straight time that she had less than 20 unforced errors in the tournament.
One pressing concern for Kerber is her ability to close matches. Serving for the victory at 5-4 in the second set, Kerber got broken and needed Kasatkina to commit a forehand error to get the win.
Sure enough, that won’t work against an in-form Ostapenko who is also on the top of her game.
Ostapenko is the first Latvian woman to reach the semis of the All England Club, and she is undoubtedly more than motivated to get the job done this time after reaching the quarter-finals of Wimbledon 2017.
The 21-year-old rising star has not dropped a set in this year’s Wimbledon and even made easy work of World No.33 Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals.
Ostapenko hit 33 winners against the Slovak and was the aggressor throughout—displaying her risky, aggressive and “See Ball, Hit Winner” style of play.
If there’s one thing that Ostapenko needs to address, it’s taking care of the ball. She had 28 unforced errors in the match with Cibulkova, the second time in the competition that she topped 20 errors.
The 2017 French Open champion, however, remains full of confidence and is clearly enjoying her run in the grass-court major.
“At the French Open a couple weeks ago I had so much pressure. It’s now all gone. I’m just enjoying the moment,” Ostapenko said after her Round of 16 win. “You play on a big court, in a great place, on grass, which is one of my favourite surfaces. It’s just so much fun.”
History
Given the profile of these two female tennis stars, it’s quite surprising that they haven’t played each other before.
As mentioned above, though, Kerber has been on this stage before. She reached the Wimbledon finals in 2016, beating Venus Williams in the semi-finals before falling to the American’s younger sister, Serena. The German has won the Australian Open and US Open in the same year.
Meanwhile, Ostapenko rose to the scene after she won Roland Garros last year. She beat Simona Halep back then to bag her first-ever Grand Slam title.
She won the Junior Wimbledon Championships in 2014 and reached the last eight of the seniors event three years after. Ostapenko is also the only Wimbledon quarter-finalist from last year to reach the last eight this 2018.
What are the odds?
While Ostapenko has the physical tools and weapons to make things difficult for Kerber, the Wimbledon betting odds still favour the German veteran to come out on top.
Kerber is at 1.60 on Money Line odds while Ostapenko is way behind at 2.31.
Nevertheless, fans can still expect a thriller that is likely to go the distance. In SBOBET Asian Handicap sports betting, Ostapenko is given a +1.50 set handicap that pays out at 1.55 while Kerber is at 2.40 with that start—suggesting that a three-setter semi-final isn’t far-fetched at all.
Kerber is at a further -3.00 game handicap at 2.02 and Ostapenko at 1.82 for the +3.00 start.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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