US Open Women's Betting: Venus can dismiss Errani threat

Can Venus make it into the second week?

We've now reached the third round of the US Open 2014 and Abelson Info pick out their value bets from Friday's schedule...

With the field thinning out, the draw is producing some intriguing clashes at a relatively early stage of the tournament and it's guaranteed that more big names will be heading home.

While there have already been some shocks with the likes of Agnieszka Radwanska and Ana Ivanovic crashing out, we could now start to see some real favourites emerge from each respective quarter.

Following on from her sister's dominant display on Thursday, Venus Williams will be hoping to produce a similar performance when she takes on Sara Errani.

Although the Italian is still ranked higher than her rival, Williams is certainly in the better form heading into this tournament as she has enjoyed something of a revival this year.

The 34-year-old is seemingly back in contention for tournament wins, and although it will take something very special from the veteran to go all the way in New York, she will be confident of at least making the second week.

Williams has won all three of her previous meetings with Errani, all coming in straight sets but their last encounter was over two years ago in Cincinnati.

Nevertheless, this isn't Errani's favourite surface by any stretch of the imagination, with the Italian only faring worse on grass, and so we envisage this being another fairly straight-forward victory for Williams.

Elsewhere, in perhaps the pick of the round, Maria Sharapova faces Sabine Lisicki with these two hard-hitting seeds likely to go to war on Friday night.

Sharapova undoubtedly has the edge over her rival given that she leads their head-to-head record 5-1, but is the Russian in convincing enough form to suggest that she can wrap this win up with minimal fuss?

In recent months, the world number six has been involved in so many grueling three-set matches that we've lost count. Her problems usually arise from a slow start which seemingly then wakes her up and she delves into her powers of recovery to prevail.

She was forced to do so again in the last round against Alexandra Dulgheru, and we believe that Lisicki has enough in her locker to make this a real test.

Meanwhile, Jelena Jankovic, Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber will all be hoping to book their place in the next round on Friday, but there is one other particularly intriguing clash to look out for.

Caroline Wozniacki has been in good form in recent months, following up her tournament success in Istanbul in July with solid runs at Montreal and Cincinnati.

As a result, she will have big expectations at the US Open this year, and the world number 11 has the edge over her next opponent, Andrea Petkovic.

The Dane has won their last two meetings, both in straight sets, and although the German is a dangerous opponent, Wozniacki should justify short odds today.

Recommended Bets
Back Venus Williams to beat Errani 2-0 1.991/1
Back Sharapova to beat Lisicki 2-1 @ 4.216/5