One of the most exciting stories in tennis right now is the ‘Big Three’ rivalry between Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. The next chapter in this rivalry plays out over the coming weeks on hard courts as the WTA Tour heads to North America for two WTA Masters 1000 events and then the US Open in late August.
Throw in some excellent American hard courters such as Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, and the National Bank Open 2023 in Montreal is set to be a fantastic tournament. Who will bounce back best after Wimbledon? Can Gauff maintain her momentum? We break down the answer to these questions and more with the latest odds from bookmaker William Hill ahead of this tournament.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 7th, 3:00 P.M. (GMT)
As expected, Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina occupy the top three spots in the outright betting odds at bookmaker William Hill. Swiatek has a reasonable lead at 3.00 with Sabalenka next at 4.50 followed closely by Rybakina on 5.50. Behind these three, Pegula comes in next with double the odds at 11.00 before Gauff rounds out the top five betting favourites on 13.00 after her win in Washington over the weekend.
Despite the dominance of the Big Three these past two years, it does feel as though this is a more open tournament than usual. Coco Gauff is riding a high after claiming the Mubadala DC Citi Open over the weekend and will be tough to stop on the fast courts of Montreal. Pegula too, will take some confidence from what is her best section of the WTA Tour calendar. However, we say it will be the No. 1 seed Swiatek who comes away victorious on Sunday.
What gives Swiatek the edge here is her recent play in Warsaw. While Sabalenka and Rybakina definitely have the games to beat Swiatek on hard court, the fact is neither has played for three weeks while Swiatek just put on a dominant performance on this surface in Poland last week. The 22-year-old looked imperious, dropping only one game in the BNP Paribas Warsaw Open to win the final 6-0, 6-1.
Chances are Swiatek will roll this form straight into the National Bank Open 2023 and simply be too good for her rivals who will still be adjusting to the surface. What this means for Swiatek’s US Open chances is another story given that she may well have played a lot of tennis by then, but we say the Pole is a good bet to win this week at least with odds of 3.00.
