The WTA Tour has officially seen its regular season draw to a close for the year, with the first of several post-season tournaments beginning this week. Among these is the Huafa Technology WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, which sees the top 11 singles players who did not qualify for the WTA Finals competing in a round robin format, followed by knockout semi-finals and final.
Courtesy of the busy finish to the year, there are plenty of players who arrive in Zhuhai off the back of some strong form. Veronika Kudermetova recently won in Tokyo, while Barbora Krejcikova is still riding a high after her San Diego title, as is Zheng Qinwen after lifting the trophy in Zhengzhou. Which one of these women will be able to keep the momentum going and power all the way to a title here in Zhuhai this week?
We break down all the latest betting odds from bookmaker bet365 ahead of the Huafa Technology WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and outline the best bets to make on this tournament.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 23rd, 2:30 P.M. (GMT)
Outright betting odds from bookmaker bet365 indicate what many will have been suspecting ahead of this event, it’s going to be close. Recent winner Zheng Qinwen holds the narrow edge in the betting odds, sitting at 5.00 to win the WTA Elite Trophy. Right behind her is Barbora Krejcikova on 6.00, before a three-way tie for third favourite plays out between Madison Keys, Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova.
These women are all favoured to win their groups as well, with Group Rose the only one containing two of the top five favourites. Kudermetova holds the slight advantage over Samsonova in the odds to win this group, at 2.10 to 2.25.
Predicting who will win post-season events like this is always challenging, given the context of injuries, form and tired players. Will those who have been winning keep doing so, or does this indicate they’ll be fatigued and have little left in the tank at this stage of the season?
We say Madison Keys strikes the perfect balance between form and fatigue coming into the WTA Elite Trophy. The world No. 11 hasn’t played in over a month, last competing at the Masters 1000 in Guadalajara. However, recent months have seen her put in two strong runs, making the semi-finals of the US Open and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. She’s playing good tennis, is well rested, and will be perfectly placed to capitalise on a weak group featuring the mercurial Beatriz Haddad-Maia and Caroline Garcia.
