China Open Women's Betting: Back Sharapova to claim title in Beijing

Can Sharapova snatch the title in Beijing?

The race to Singapore is still on for some of the top names on the WTA tour, and Abelson Info preview what looks set to be a thrilling week in Beijing...

New tournament, new surroundings, but still the same story as world number one Serena Williams heads to Beijing as the favourite for the China Open.

After securing yet another Grand Slam triumph in New York, Williams will want to finish the season off in style as she heads for Singapore, although it remains to be seen if she has fully recovered from illness.

The 33-year-old withdrew from the Wuhan Open during her second-round match against Alize Cornet, but while she will be confident of getting back to full health in time for this tournament, her rivals have other problems.

Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Ana Ivanovic were all unable to avoid early-round exits, and so with such a quick turnaround, there are question marks over whether or not they have had sufficient time to put things right.

Nevertheless, it does suggest that at this stage of the year we are certainly in for a few shocks and upsets this week, and so it may not be down to who can stop Williams.

As mentioned above though, this tournament will have more weight for certain individuals, including Ivanovic, while in-form Wuhan finalists Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard may not be physically ready to go again so soon after the end of that tournament.

The China Open is worth 1,000 points to the champion, 650 to a finalist and 390 for reaching the semi-finals, and so there is still so much to play for as these big-name players will be desperate to participate in the WTA Finals.

While the likes of Williams, Sharapova and Halep are out of sight, either Kvitova or Bouchard will likely join them depending on who wins in Wuhan. That leaves the loser of that meeting, Radwanska, Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Angelique Kerber all scrapping for places.

However, looking at each quarter of the draw, it begins to become a little clearer as to who will have the toughest run in order to get to the latter stages of the tournament.

Williams does in fact potentially face some tricky encounters against the likes of Kirilenko, Giorgi and Wozniacki, while Halep and Bouchard could be on a collision course at the other end.

In contrast, things arguably look a little more straight-forward for Sharapova and particularly Kvitova, so it will ultimately come down to who is able to settle the quickest and get through the early rounds with minimal fuss.

The safe bet would naturally be to back Williams as on her day she is unbeatable, but the value inevitably lies elsewhere and Sharapova, despite her struggle in Wuhan, is amongst those worth backing. Just make sure she isn't behind you while you read this preview as you might end up on Twitter...

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