Tennis Betting Advice - March 2024
Indian Wells: We'll take 150/1 for starters...
Tuesday 5th March 2024
Good morning. Indian Wells starts tomorrow, and your Day 1 email will be with you around Wednesday lunchtime…
However, the tournament draws were made overnight, and there’s a 150/1 shot for the women’s event that I want us to get in the book right away…
Early markets up with a couple of firms…
As I reported last season, Ladbrokes & Coral are almost always the first sportsbook up with their tennis Outright Winner markets these days. That was the case again first thing this morning, with the WTA Indian Wells prices posted online before any other major firm.
Indeed, as I write at 11am, William Hill are the only other mainstream bookmaker with their Indian Wells women’s outright market up right now. That will all change over the next 24 hours. But for today, let’s get a big price in the book, early doors…
Dangerous outsider at 150/1…
The player I want us to back here is Sorana Cirstea.
Age 33, the Romanian is closing in on the Top 20 for the first time in her career. She’s no.22 in the world. And seeded 19th here in California, granting the right-hander a Bye through to the 2nd round (so there’s no rush to back Sorana in terms of missing her first match this week – but I just wanted to make sure I alerted you to the triple-figure odds today).
On Cirstea’s most recent outing, the powerful hard-court player was seen getting to the semi finals at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. Sorana has pedigree at ‘Masters’ 1000 level – going right back to Toronto 2013, where she reached a maiden Masters final as a rank outsider.
Since the pandemic, we’ve attempted to latch onto Cirstea’s late-career surge on a couple of occasions. Age is just a number when you work as hard on the physical conditioning as Sorana does. Over the past two years, I’ve actually flagged the current Romanian no.1 up a total of three times as a 100/1+ Each Way outsider. Including here at Indian Wells in 2022 at 150/1, where she went on to reach the Last 16…
Last season, Cirstea continued to impress on North American hard courts. Reaching the quarter finals or better at both events in the prestigious ‘March madness/ Sunshine double’ in the States. Making the last eight at Indian Wells, and then the semi finals at the Miami Open – from massive starting prices of 500/1 at both events…
In a nutshell, Sorana Cirstea is a big-odds outsider with plenty of underdog credentials to like.
Odds of 150/1 Each Way make the 33-year-old a dangerous name in the draw – and I want us to have her in the book, in anticipation of a really big ‘surprise’ run… which given Cirstea’s powerful ball-striking ability and track record on these courts, wouldn’t actually be that much of a surprise to you and I…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ones to Watch picks – Indian Wells:
See above for full details
WTA Indian Wells – BNP Paribas Open
Outright Winner – Each Way (1/2 odds 1-2 places):
Other bookies to price up today/ Wednesday.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’ll be back tomorrow with your Day 1 email for Indian Wells.
P.S
Want to get in touch? Email me at:
oliver.upstone@oxonpress.co.uk
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone