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Ekaterina Makarova and Maria Sharapova will square off in an all-Russian semifinal here at the Australian Open.
Makarova is fresh on the back of a marvelous 6-4 6-0 win against third seed Halep, a very impressive result that came to confirm Makarova’s form both short term and long term. Halep wasn`t at her very best in the quarters, but Makarova went around her business and played a great tennis match, adding another straight sets win here in Melbourne – she won all her matches in 2 sets, never going above 6-4. With the experience of last years’ semifinal at the US Open (lost to Serena), Makarova will surely feel confident she can make another step this time around.
After saving match points against Panova early in the tournament, Sharapova has been on a roll, blowing out all her opponents with some fantastic offensive tennis – including Eugenie Bouchard last round, with a 6-3 6-2 win. Maria has been extremely good at forcing errors, while keeping her unforced errors numbers low. In this kind of form, it can be argued that she`s the number 1 favorite to win the Aussie Open right now.
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Maria Sharapova leads the Head 2 Head 5-0 (3-0 on hard) and lost a single set to Ekaterina, in their first meeting. However, the two did not play each other since 2013 and Makarova is at a different level right now with two consecutive Grand Slam semifinals to her name.
I tipped an over in Maria`s previous match with Bouchard but I was wrong in judging the Canadian, as she really did not bring her “A game” to the table. Makarova however has been much more consistent than Eugenie in this tournament and it`s hard to see her dropping her level after she kept it up in every match she played, including against the number 3 player in the world. Look for Sharapova to play some great tennis again, but Makarova with her power game should be able to hand in tight, maybe even snatch a set.
The under over line is slightly lower than it was for Sharapova Bouchard, which obviously looks like a mistake and it`s no surprise that it`s going up. My tip is over 20 games. Prediction: Ekaterina Makarova – Maria Sharapova 6-7 4-6.
Pick: over 20 games
Odds: 1.88 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 5.16
Event date: 29 January
