While it has been a quiet six weeks for tennis, the 2023 season is well and truly getting underway this week. The WTA Tour heads to Australia for the first of two back-to-back tournaments in Adelaide that will serve as warm-ups before the all-important first Grand Slam of the year in mid-January.
With form less of a factor given the off-season break, it will be fascinating to see who comes out of the blocks fastest this year. Ons Jabeur will be eager to start the season strong after an impressive 2022 but will receive tough competition from a draw featuring nine of the world’s best 20 female players. We analyse the odds from bookmaker bet365 and break down the best bets to make on the WTA 500 Adelaide International 1 this week.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 1st, 10:00 A.M. (GMT)
Looking at the odds from bet365, it’s clear that this will be a competitive tournament. There’s no outright favourite with Luidmila Samsonova and Ons Jabeur first equal in the odds at 7.00 to win outright. Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina are right behind on 8.00 and 9.00 respectively, before the odds begin to taper off.
Each of these women make good bets for different reasons, but Jabeur and Rybakina stand out as the best options to wager on. Ons Jabeur was one of the most consistent performers of 2022 keeping step with Iga Swiatek and pouncing whenever she faltered. Having lost in the last two Grand Slam finals of last year, Jabeur will be highly motivated to have a good run into the Australian Open this week and claim her first Grand Slam title. Elena Rybakina was one of the women who beat Jabeur in a Grand Slam final, winning Wimbledon in 2022, and has everything that it takes to win this tournament despite being No. 21 in the world currently.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 1st, 10:00 A.M. (GMT)
Rather than betting directly on Jabeur or Rybakina to win, bet365 has some great betting markets available for outright odds on which quarter the winner will come from. Both Jabeur and Rybakina are in the first quarter, so a bet on that at 3.40 is essentially money behind one of these two women to go all the way, which is a good way to spread risk.
Another strong bet to make is to bet against there being an unseeded finalist. The odds are healthy for this, given there are only eight seeds and Rybakina is unseeded. However, with Ons Jabeur likely to eliminate Rybakina in the quarterfinals, and other women such as Aryna Sabalenka looking strong in the bottom half of the draw, there’s a good chance that the two finalists will be seeded. With a return of 4.33 if this is the case, this is a great bet to make as well.
