Our tennis writer previews the Canadian Open semifinal battle between Caroline Wozniacki and Sloane Stephens.
With the Svitolina-Muguruza match suspended due to rain in Toronto, the only semi-final to take place on Saturday will be this potentially delicious one. Both of these players are experiencing something of a revival of late. Wozniacki’s- the former World Number One- has found something this season that has seen her gather an impressive run of consistency. She is aiming to make it 6 final appearances this season, an impressive haul of the Danish number 1. Stephens has returned from a debilitating injury and has been awesome en route to this final. I backed the American starlet to potentially surprise Halep in Washington, but it seems as if the resurgence train arrived one week later than I expected. All in all- this promises to be a mouth-watering encounter.
Markets- Wozniacki to win at 4/11- Stephens to win at 9/4
Caroline Wozniacki showed a huge amount of grit in her quarter-final victory over World Number One Karolina Plisikova. Amazingly enough, it represented the first time the Dane has managed to beat any World Number One in her career. That is clearly a stat inflated by her dismal record against Serena Williams, but it is still nonetheless somewhat remarkable. She seems to have found her love of the game once again and seems content playing in some of the less illustrious tournaments- excluding this of course.
Sloane Stephens has started to regain some of the form that had many touting her as a very realistic Grand Slam prospect for the States in the future. Her run in this tournament has been nothing short of incredible. Before her quarter-final victory over Lucie Safarova, she had already taking down Grand Slam Winners Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber. This is her first semi-final appearance since Charleston in 2016, though she has a fairly poor head-to-head record against Woznaicki.
The Dane leads the American by 5 victories to 1. However, Stephens did win their last encounter in 2016 at Auckland, which is also a hard-court event. Both of these ladies tend to prefer slugging it from the baseline, with Wozniacki’s characteristically histrionic mid-point screams a perfect embodiment of the type of match that we could expect this Saturday. I backed Wozniacki to go deep here, but the markets seem to favour Stephens for value. Though nowhere near the clammy conditions that they faced in Washington, Wozniacki’s gruelling schedule and epic quarter-final clash with Pliskova could present Stephens with a chance for a fairy-tale final appearance.
Verdict: Stephens to win at 9/4
This just looks like a terrific price for the slightly mercurial Stephens. Yes, Woznaicki has won her last 7 semi-final appearances, but Stephens has vanquished enough heavyweight foes on route to this final to back at this price.
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Written by Damien Kayat for @Hollywoodbets.net
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