Australian Open Women's Betting: Bouchard and Sharapova on collision course

Bouchard eyes up place in the quarter-finals...

It's Day 7 of the Australian Open 2015 and Abelson Info start to predict who will be featuring in the quarter-finals...

The fourth round draw is complete and attention now turns to who will make it through to the last eight as the remaining group of stars look to move closer to fulfilling their Grand Slam dream.

While the Williams sisters move through the field in the top half of the draw, we are edging closer to a fantastic quarter-final clash in the bottom half.

However, both Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard will be fully focused on the task in hand on Sunday as they both know that they can't afford any slip-ups at this stage.

'Twirl-gate' aside, Bouchard has stormed past her opposition with some impressive performances as she continues to produce the goods in the major tournaments.

The Canadian star has yet to drop a set in Melbourne this year and she will be optimistic about her chances against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.

Begu has also come through her first three matches without losing a set, but her opposition hasn't been nearly as difficult with Bouchard having already defeated Bertens and Garcia.

As a result, back Bouchard to come through as she displayed her battling qualities, desire to win and undeniable talent last time out and is adamant that she can play even better moving forward.

The same could also be said for Sharapova, as the world number two cruised to victory last time out but had problems in the previous round.

Nevertheless, she leads her head-to-head record against Peng Shuai 4-1, with her rival's only win coming back in 2009 when the Russian ace was still working her way back to full fitness after shoulder surgery the previous year.

In turn, we should be able to look forward to a mouth-watering quarter-final encounter between Bouchard and Sharapova next week.

Elsewhere, Simona Halep will need to do something that she has never been able to do previously, and that is to defeat Yanina Wickmayer.

The pair have met on three previous occasions, with Wickmayer winning all three in straight sets. While on paper Halep's chances look grim, in context it is worth pointing out that they haven't played since 2012.

The Romanian's improvement since then has been unbelievable and many would argue that she is a completely different player after a successful 2014.

As a result, we have faith that Halep can finally overcome her woes against her Belgian rival but when a player can historically cause the other problems, it is worth considering that this may not be so simple.

Waiting for Halep in the next round will be either Julia Goerges or Ekaterina Makarova and while the pair have never met previously, Makarova is the favourite given her superior world ranking and the level of opposition she has already dispatched of in this tournament.

Recommended Bets
Back Bouchard -5.5 Games vs Begu @ 1.774/5
Back Under 18.5 Games in Sharapova vs Peng @ 2.021/1
Back Wickmayer +6.5 Games vs Halep @ Best Available Price

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