Wimbledon day 9 activity

Four women's quarter-finals and none particularly straightforward.

Safina was in trouble against Mauresmo, a player with more mental strength would have finished her off, but it wasn't to be. Lisicki is flying, based on a big serve and heavy groundstrokes. But this is the same style as Safina which puts the German teen at a disadvantage. She won't be able to outhit the Russian, she needs to be able to mix it up a bit to frustrate her.

Venus is the strongest favourite of the day against Radwanska but I think she's a silly price. Radwanska is an exceptionally smart player, varying her style to best suit the matchup. The h2h stands 3-1 in favour of Venus, but I think she's worth a small lay at the odds. Make up your own mind whether you want to trade it or not. If you read my outright previews, you'll know I'm on Venus for the title, so it's a little bit of insurance for me.

Azarenka beat a wounded Serena in Miami but also had her on toast in Melbourne back in January. however her win over Petrova was sloppy, throwing in ten double faults and quite a few errors. She'll need to be back to her form of previous rds to threaten Serena who demolished Hantuchova in R4.

Dementieva comes up rather short against Schiavone considering the h2h is 4-4. The Italian looked very good against Razzano, Bartoli and Wozniak, three players inside the top 25 whereas Dementieva hasn't faced anyone inside top 35.

For me today, I'll be laying Dementieva for a proper bet and Venus for insurance.

Comments

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

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lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

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Sport is made for betting

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