Halep – Williams

Simona Halep Venus Williams Australian Open tips

Simona Halep will meet Venus Williams on Friday night / Saturday morning in a highly anticipated third round meeting on the Women`s draw at the Aussie Open.

Halep missed the last two months of last season with a disk hernia (which didn`t requrie surgery), and played three matches so far this season after her comeback. The World No.1 lost to Barty in the first round in Sydney, and got through two difficult matches here at the Australian Open, defeating Kanepi (6-7 6-4 6-2) and Kenin (6-3 6-7 6-4). Particularly the match against Kenin was difficult for Halep, but she came back from a 2-4 deficit in the third set to claim victory.

Venus Williams is pushing 39 years old, but the American is still fighting, and still playing well. Venus went to Auckland to prepare for the Australian Open and was solid in that tournament, defeating Azarenka and Davis before falling to a red hot Bianca Andreescu. Much like Halep, Venus Williams had two difficult wins so far at the Australian Open, needing three sets to get past Buzarnescu (6-7 7-6 6-2) and Cornet (6-3 4-6 6-0). It wasn`t the best tennis from Venus, but she did play very well in the last set against Cornet.

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Venus Williams leads the H2H 3-2 (1-1 on hard), but her last win was in 2013, when Halep was just beginning to emerge. Halep won the previous two meetings and won them in dominant fashion: 6-2 6-1 in 2015 in Rome, and 6-2 6-2 last year in Montreal.

Looking at the stats one might say that Halep is not at her best, and indeed she had some poor moments during these week, but in fact she played pretty well overall. The draw wasn`t kind to her, she met dangerous opponents against which she did not match up very well. Despite this, she showed great character to come back in both matches. She played brilliant tennis in the important moments, including in the last 4 games against Kenin, when she came back from 2-4 down in the third set.

As for Venus, she`s playing well, but not great. She struggled herself this week despite facing less dangerous opponents than Halep did – an out of form, unfit Buzarnescu (who served for the match!) and Cornet, who`s never a threat in Grand Slams and is also an ideal matchup for Venus. Quite honestly, Venus doesn`t seem to be playing well enough to pose a danger to the top players right now.

Halep has raised her level when it mattered, showed stretches of excellent tennis, and you have to expect the World No.1 will continue to be better as the tournament progresses.

This time Halep will also meet an opponent against which she matches up well. At 38 years old Venus shouldn`t be such a big threat to Halep, as the last two meetings revealed – with Venus winning a grand total of 7 (!!) games in those two matches.

Venus doesn`t have the offensive weapons she once had and Halep, a defensive beast, should be able to keep the ball in play for as long as she wants, eventually forcing the American to commit errors. The serve of Venus will also be less effective against one of the best returners in the game. It just looks like a very good matchup for Halep, and she should be able to wear down the 38 year old.

One thing worth noting regarding Halep is the fact that she complained about some discomfort with her thigh muscles in the second part of the match against Kenin. Personally I wouldn`t put much emphasys on that, as Halep often complains about supposed injuries during matches, and she wasn`t slowed down one bit by that “pain in the thigh” two days ago. Halep herself stated after the match that it shouldn`t be anything to worry about.

As long as Halep is fit and she plays like she did in her previous matches, she should win this. If she raises her level, as you would expect, she might win this pretty easily. After all, the Romanian is a much better player than Venus at this stage of her career. Prediction: Simona Halep – Venus Williams 7-6 6-2.

Pick: Halep
Odds: 1.48 @ Jetbull
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 3.84
Event date: 19 January

About Rostick

Born in '88. Running betting tips websites since 2007. Launched Betdistrict in 2013. Worked as a bookie for a year to spy on the other side. Rugby Union and NBA expert. Editor info & statistics.

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