It’s been a cracking start to the 2024 season on the WTA Tour, with two finals over the weekend in Brisbane and Auckland featuring the top two seeds. Throw in some hot performances from Iga Swiatek in the United Cup and things are looking good in women’s tennis heading into the Australian Open. With one last chance for players to grab momentum in Adelaide this week, who will make a deep run ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam?
Elena Rybakina has all the momentum heading into Adelaide, having just dispatched world number two Aryna Sabalenka in emphatic fashion on Sunday. The question is, will the Kazakh have the steam, or the desire, to go deep in Adelaide as well? Or will world number five Jessica Pegula make her case for being a threat in Melbourne by putting together a title run herself?
We break down all the latest betting odds from bookmaker bet365 to answer these questions and outline the best bets to make on the Adelaide International WTA 500 this week.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 7th, 7:00 A.M. (GMT)
Bookmaker bet365 has Elena Rybakina a solid favourite heading into Adelaide, with the Brisbane champion returning 2.62 to win the tournament. World number five Jessica Pegula is not far behind, however, paying 3.40 in the outright betting odds. These two are well ahead of the rest of the pack, with Marketa Vondrousova next at 6.50 before Barbora Krejcikova and Beatriz Haddad Maia round out the top five betting favourites at 8.00 and 12.00 respectively.
Despite the red-hot form that Rybakina showed in Brisbane this week, we suggest staying away from a bet on the Kazakh to win in Adelaide as well. She may be the bookmakers’ favourite, but there’s every chance she’ll either withdraw, or not push herself as hard as usual this week. A win in Adelaide would mean two weeks of playing a full schedule, heading into a Grand Slam—not the best idea for any player.
Instead, Jessica Pegula is the best bet to win here. Remove Rybakina from the equation and she’s the huge favourite, for good reason. The American is a brilliant hard court player and has a good record down under. She also has had something of a chip on her shoulder in the past about being overlooked in favour of Swiatek, Sabalenka, Rybakina and Gauff—something that has certainly happened this past week. Expect her to come out hot in Adelaide and establish herself as a Australian Open threat.
