French Open Betting 
/ Gary Boswell / 21 May 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Gary believes Vania King could cause an upset in round one
"No way would I want to back Cornet as favourite – even with the partisan crowd on her side. The value clearly lies with Voracova at around [2.6].
The Boz tuned in to the French Open Women's draw on Friday and he's been at the form books ever since, working out his potential first round shocks. The following are his top five to turn over the odds.
Vania King to beat Dominika Cibulkova - priced around [5.0]
Absolute monster price for what is essentially a very tight match up. The Slovakian 22- year-old Cibulkova is in good form and is arguably the greater clay court player but she has a 0-2 head to head to overcome and the first of those defeats was the classic match of three tie-breaks which tells you how close this one is to call. I'd have it [2.1] the pair.
The recent match, at the 2010 Australian Open, produced another close three setter which the American won 7-5 in the last. She has slid down the rankings a tad since those days and, with both wins on hard court, it's perhaps easy to overestimate the current 94 ranked player as she attempts to dump the seed. The price being so wrong as a reflection of the difference between them makes me want to bet! I can't resist such an over generous offer.
Romani Oprandi to beat Ekaterina Makarova - priced around [3.2]
If you take the previous form between 77 ranked Italian Oprandi and 36 ranked Russian Makarova literally you can only make one favourite. Oprandi holds a 2-0 head to head score and both wins came back in 2006 on her favoured clay surface that they'll meet on here. In the first three sets between the two, Makarova won only four games, going down 6-1 6-3 and 6-0 before rallying to tie ten games all in the two final sets of the three set match in Denain.
The Russian was only 17 then and pretty green and of course she has improved immeasurably since and passed her 25-year-old opponent in the rankings but that head to head form is never forgotten and always influential. Oprandi comes in to the game knowing how to beat Makarova and beat her convincingly while Makarova comes in with the reverse feeling and the pressure on her to justify her revised rating since last they met.
That's a strong reason for taking the lesser ranked player in my book, especially when you are being offered such a price differential.
Renata Voracova to beat Alize Cornet - priced at around [2.6]
For 122 ranked Czech Voracova, this is a first appearance at Roland Garros and she is likely to be in the bear pit against local heart throb Alize Cornet who has herself slipped to a lowly 80 ranking after 12 months of indifferent form. Back in 2007, great things were forecast for the 21-year-old French woman as she triumphed in the junior French Open. She's lost her way a fair bit since then and has an unimpressive head to head against the 27-year-old to boot. Defeats at Poiters in 2007 and Linz in 2010 were both in straight sets and Cornet has that ability to simply not turn up. No way would I want to back her as favourite - even with the partisan crowd on her side in this (just as much a negative as a positive depending on how well you are playing). The value clearly lies in the debutante at around [2.6].
Kirsten lipkens to beat Lucie Safarova priced around [4.8]
The diminutive Belgian has dropped to 96 in the rankings but can be fancied to overcome the odds against 24-year-old Czech Safarova who has a serve to die for and claims to like the clay. That liking is not transparent to this observer who might fancy her to take this on grass but can see the weakness in Safarova's groundstrokes being influential in the outcome here. Flipkens keeps it low and I remember watching their only previous meeting at Estoril back in 2008 where it was a closely contested affair, won 7-5 6-4 by the Belgian who exerted with her return.
When the Safarova serve is not dominating, she is not a difficult opponent to master and I seriously fancy the reverse here despite the huge gulf in current rankings. Value once more lies in taking on the 37 ranked Czech.
Pauline Parmentier to beat Ksenia Pervak - priced around [2.2]
Can't pretend to have seen much of the new Russian on the block - 19 year old Ksenia Pervak - about whom I've heard several dogs barking of late. Her 88 ranking tells me she is not yet that exciting however and this is one where the home support might work in underdog Parmentier's favour. The French player also boasts much greater match experience and in 2009 she was able to blow the diminutive Pervak away 6-2 6-3 in Barnstaple. That will do for me at the odds on offer. The least confident of my picks but another slice of value nevertheless.
Recommended bet is level stakes singles - all five with one, two or three needed to prevail to successfully register a profit.
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