Wimbledon Women's Betting: Safarova to march on at Makarova's expense

Can Safarova book her place in the semi's?

The quarter-finals get underway at Wimbledon on Tuesday, and Abelson Info preview some highly intriguing encounters as we edge closer to Saturday's final...

The bottom half of the draw is wide open considering the number of high profile exits we have seen thus far, with Li Na, Sloane Stephens, Flavia Pennetta, Dominika Cibulkova and Sara Errani all out of the picture.

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska joined them by crashing out of the tournament on Monday following a heavy straight-sets defeat to Ekaterina Makarova, and even though the past week has proven that there are some dangerous players on show, Petra Kvitova is likely to be the biggest beneficiary.

The 2011 champion had a tough three-set match in the third round against Venus Williams, but she dispatched Shuai Peng with relative ease last time out.

Now the highest seed remaining in her half of the draw by some distance, the Czech ace will face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who has accounted for Elena Vesnina, Na and most recently Caroline Wozniacki.

As a result, Kvitova will not take this contest lightly, and with the surprise element ruled out, she will want to put on a professional performance which sees her through to the semi-finals with minimal fuss.

Kvitova has enjoyed the better of their previous meetings as she leads their head-to-head record 3-1 and if she can play on the front foot and not allow her compatriot to mix up the pace and have her scrambling then she is more than capable of putting on a convincing display.

While the top half of the draw plays catch up, attention is fully focused on the bottom half in terms of quarter-final encounters, and the aforementioned Makarova will look to continue her dream run at SW19 this year against Lucie Safarova.

The Czech contingent have made history with no less than three players reaching this stage of a Grand Slam for the first time in the Open Era, but if Safarova harbours realistic ambitions of progressing even further, she will have to be at her best.

After battling through her opening rounds, Makarova defeated promising youngster Caroline Garcia in round three, before dumping out one of our tournament tips in Radwanska last time out and dropping just three games in the process.

As a result, the Russian star has been made the favourite in this one, but her Czech opponent's path hasn't been particularly easy either, and with the pair locked at one win apiece in their head-to-head, this could be closer than many envisage it to be.

With such a big prize on offer and a genuine chance of reaching a Grand Slam final thereafter, there is huge incentive for both women to play their best tennis. There is barely anything to split them in terms of world ranking and form this year, and they are even both lefties.

While Makarova will be fancied to outclass her rival, back Safarova to produce an upset of sort and advance to the last four.

Recommended Bets

Back Safarova to beat Makarova @ 2.245/4
Back Kvitova to beat Strycova 2-1 @ 4.216/5