OTW Extra Email Archive - April 2018
A 66/1 dark horse for the French Open…
Tuesday 3rd April 2018
In your Ones to Watch EXTRA email today:
Another big winner at the Masters…
The March schedule was dominated by the first two ‘Masters’ events of the season, in Indian Wells and Miami.
After the women’s Indian Wells event delivered a big-odds final of 125/1 Naomi Osaka beating 80/1 Daria Kasatkina, it was the men’s turn to bring up the big prices in Miami…
Aged 32, John Isner lifted his first ever ATP Masters 1000 trophy – beating 20-year-old Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.
Isner had started the event as an 80/1 outsider, with Zverev a 25/1 shot.
Once again we are reminded (as if I’d let you forget) that the short prices players and favourites DO NOT win every week. In Miami, the likes of Roger Federer, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki were nowhere to be seen when the trophies were handed out on finals weekend.
Talking of big prices…
Clay-court specialist on the comeback…
In our last Ones to Watch EXTRA email we looked at 300/1 Ana Konjuh as a potential ‘comeback kid’ for the Wimbledon women’s title this summer. The 20-year-old Croatian is on the way back from elbow surgery, and has been earmarked as a grass-court specialist/ future Wimbledon contender for some time.
After Sloane Stephens won the US Open last summer – pulling off a comeback from foot surgery to go from World No.957 to Grand Slam champion in a space of weeks – nothing it out of the question in this game…
This week I have a player on the radar for the next Grand Slam, the French Open on clay at the end of May…
Laura Siegemund is a player I’ve written about before, both as a ‘late bloomer’ and as One to Watch on clay in particular.
The German turned 30 last month, and this week plays in her first tournament since last spring.
This time last year Siegemund played on clay in the USA at Charleston and reached the semi finals. After that she went on to win on clay in Stuttgart, and was looking every inch a dark horse for Roland Garros – until a nasty on-court injury (torn cruciate ligament in her knee) scuppered her Paris chances, and took her out of the game for the rest of the season and beyond.
Eleven months later and Siegemund is back on court…
A 66/1 dark horse for the French Open…
Currently ranked World No.74, Siegemund is making her comeback in Charleston this week, and won her opening match in straight sets, 2-0. Next up is Indian Wells champ Naomi Osaka.
It might be a bit much to expect Siegemund to put a title run together at the first time of asking this week, but Charleston is as good a setting as any for her to begin her comeback, with the upcoming WTA Stuttgart title defence sure to be high on her list of targets.
Siegemund’s three career WTA finals to date have all come on clay (two wins, one runner-up) – with the first not coming until she was 28 years old. There could yet be more to come.
And of course, the clay season all builds up to the French Open in Paris…
Siegemund is currently a 66/1 outside chance for the big one.
If she proves her fitness and shows signs of having her match sharpness and winning form back, the German’s powerful game could see her arriving at Roland Garros as a dark horse or even as a genuine title contender. That 66/1 will certainly drop if she does reach a final or pull off some big match wins between now and Paris.
At the time of writing Bet365, William Hill and Skybet have Siegemund at 66/1 for the French Open 2018 Women’s title – three bookies who all void bets if your player doesn’t compete (find out more here).
P.S
Two tournaments this week…
Ahead of the French Open, we have plenty of weekly tournaments with big prices to target. This week over on my members-only service we’re tackling that Charleston clay-court event and also the women’s Monterrey tournament played on hard courts. If you’re not on board yet, get involved – you can get instant access to my latest picks with a Free Trial here.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson