Women’s US Open Sports Betting Preview (2020)
The 2020 women’s U.S. Open is taking place under extraordinary circumstances. The tennis tour has been derailed for roughly half a year by the coronavirus pandemic. The WTA Tour finally resumed play at the Premier 5 level this past week in New York, and the U.S. Open will start next week. There is no real basis for comparison with any past U.S. Open or major tournament, because the tour being sidelined for nearly six months is practically unheard of. There are some other specific details pertaining to this tournament which have to be kept in mind.
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Tournament Overview
There will be a lot of high-profile absences at the 2020 U.S. Open women’s tournament. World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty will not play in this tournament. Neither will 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. Belinda Bencic, who made the 2019 U.S. Open semifinals, won’t play. 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu is staying home as well, along with Kiki Bertens and Elina Svitolina, who have both made major semifinals and are in the world’s top 15. The No. 5 seed is Aryna Sabalenka, a player who has never made a major semifinal. Sofia Kenin, the Australian Open champion but also a player who has not established long-term consistency on tour, is the No. 2 seed. This is a thin draw in which a lot of crazy results are likely to happen. Players have very little rhythm after their completely disrupted 2020 schedules.
The tournament will not have any qualifying rounds, which is not normal procedure for the U.S. Open or other standard tennis tournaments. There will be no fans on hand in New York. There won’t be a full amount of lines-people making lines-calls. Hawkeye, the video replay and tracking system, will be used to make more of the lines-calls at the tournament, though there will be chair umpires for every match. There will not be ball-kids handing towels to players. The players have to get the towels on their own. A lot of the details normally involved in tennis tournaments will not apply to this one. It will be a very strange major tournament.
Favorite Pick: Naomi Osaka
Odds: +550 at FanDuel Sportsbook
Naomi Osaka has played very strong, confident tennis this past week in New York, in preparation for the U.S. Open. She was not 100-percent healthy last year at the U.S. Open when she lost to Bencic in the fourth round. Now she is fully fit and is moving extremely well. She won this tournament in 2018 and is a very comfortable mover and ball striker on hard courts, which are by far her best surface. She struggles on clay and grass but is in her comfort zone on concrete. A number of different players are extremely hard to beat when they are locked in and playing well, but Osaka is probably the toughest of these players, especially since Serena Williams is almost 39 and can’t be relied upon the same way she used to be. Osaka is the best bet to win a very unpredictable tournament.
Osaka is in the top half of the women’s draw. She could face top-seeded Karolina Pliskova in a possible semifinal. The winner of that semifinal is the odds-on choice to win the whole tournament.
Longshot Pick: Elise Mertens
Odds: +2200 at FanDuel Sportsbook
Elise Mertens is seeded No. 16, but she has reached a major semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open and reached the second week of the U.S. Open last year. She isn’t overwhelmingly powerful, but she is consistent with her groundstrokes. She could make a run simply because she minimizes bad mistakes. That could mean a lot more at this tournament under these circumstances than in a “normal†year.
Mertens is in the same section of the draw as No. 2 seed Sofia Kenin. Mertens’ experience could certainly carry her past Mertens and into the quarterfinals, where she could face No. 9 seed Jo Konta or No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka, both very beatable players. As long as Mertens avoids No. 3 seed Serena Williams in a possible semifinal, she could go all the way.
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Dave Golokhov is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Dave, check out his archive and follow him @davegolokhov.