US Open Betting – Clijsters vs. Kvitova

Flushing Meadows, New York – Defending US Open champion Kim Clijsters takes on Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova in the third round. A spot in the last 16 is on the line.

At the 2009 US Open, people stood to attention when Petra Kvitova knocked out Dinara Safina (ranked at the time No.1 in the world) in the third round. She’ll need another similar big win if she hopes to advance past the third round for a second consecutive season, but something tells me that accomplishing the feat will be tougher this time around.

Clijsters has had a standout hard court season both in the early months and during the US Open series. She’s one of several short odds-on-favourites to win the title and she’s gotten her campaign off to a convincing start, dropping just eight games in two rounds.

Tennis Betting Line: Petra Kvitova    +800         Kim Clijsters     -2000 
First Set Line: Petra Kvitova +500         Kim Clijsters     -1000  

Match Time: 01:00 PM Eastern Time (10:00 Pacific Time) Thursday September 3, 2010

Tennis Betting Verdict: Clijsters won the Cincinnati crown along with two titles earlier this year in Brisbane and Miami. On the merit of her Cincy win, she moved to the forefront of the US Open betting market.

Because few expect Clijsters to falter at this stage and the form she’s shown in the early rounds, she is a solid favourite to advance into the fourth round, listed at -2000. To take the first set she is priced at -1000.

Her opposite is a hefty +800 puppy to win outright and a +500 puppy to take the first set. Though Kvitova’s run into the Wimby semis lends her some credibility in the market, especially when she navigated a course at the expense of legitimate opponents in Cirstea, Zheng, Azarenka, Wozniacki and Kanepi en route to the final four. The form that she’s shown afterwards is that which takes the shine off her odds.

Since Wimbledon, where she fell to Serena Williams, Kvitova has strung together a five-match losing streak. She snapped the negative trend here to reach the US Open third round, but then again she’s only come across lightweights in the game so far.

Just as Serena Williams proved too big an obstacle – even though the Czech managed to represent herself well enough in a 7-6(5), 6-2 loss – I expect Clijsters to be as well.  I think though Kvitova can take a set off Clijsters.

Tennis Free Picks: Clijsters in three sets