WTA Western & Southern Open 2022: Fans Farewell Serena as Swiatek Leads Odds - Bookmaker Info: Your #1 Source for Online Gambling

America’s oldest tennis tournament begins tomorrow with the Cincinnati Masters getting under way from August 15-21.

Competing for a total prize pool of $2,527,250, the WTA 1000 event known as the Western & Southern Open will feature many of the tour’s best players. A fortnight out from the US Open, this last major stop on the North American hard court swing is crucial for players building form and securing seedings ahead of the year’s final Grand Slam.

As with every tournament over the past four months, Iga Swiatek enters the Western & Southern Open as the player to beat. With 2021 champion Ashleigh Barty no longer active on the tour, one thing is for sure — the Cincinnati Masters trophy will be changing hands in 2022. However, this is likely to be overshadowed, at least initially, by the continued goodbye tour of Serena Williams, who announced her impending retirement earlier this week.

※Current Odds Date & Time: August 14th, 6:00 a.m. (GMT)

Despite three cheap losses over the past month, Iga Swiatek remains head and shoulders above the rest of the field in the outright winner odds for this tournament. Swiatek will be eager to regain her form from earlier in the year where she strung together 37 wins on the trot that saw her claim six titles including the 2022 Wimbledon trophy. Since then, however, she has crashed out of the French Open, Polish Open, and last week’s National Bank Open, all in rather underwhelming fashion.

The World No. 1 holds odds of 3.60 to win with bookmaker William Hill in Cincinnati this week and is significantly ahead of second-favourite Simona Halep, who is paying 9.50 to take down the title. Halep is enjoying a fine patch of form in 2022 and will re-enter the World’s Top 10 for the first time this year as she plays for the title of the National Bank Open tonight. Coco Gauff sits third in the overall odds at 13.00 having lost to Halep in a quarter-final earlier this week.

Other contenders in the odds include Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka and Elena Rybakina who are all priced at 17.00 to win the title this week. Beatriz Haddad Maia offers a potentially lucrative bet with the Brazilian facing Simona Halep this evening in the final of the National Bank Open after dispatching Swiatek in the Round of 16. Having accrued a 7-1 record against Top 20 players in 2022 as well as making five semi-final appearances this year, Haddad Maia’s form pays a tempting price of 34.00 to win the Western & Southern Open this week.

Before looking to a winner, all eyes will be on the opening round of the tournament where Serena Williams takes on Emma Raducanu. Williams will be hoping for a better performance against the Brit than she managed in her opening match of the National Bank Open where a capacity crowd turned out to watch her lose in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. With a retirement announcement saddening the tennis world earlier this week, chances are the Cincinnati Masters will be the second to last time we see Williams on court as the US Open looks likely to be her final goodbye.