Tennis: Tournament Watch Week 9 – Here come the girls

WTA takes centre stage 

Remember straight after the Australian Open, the WTA was off the grid and it was wall to wall ATP action? Well this time it is the ATP that will take a week’s breather from the tour, with two established tournaments in Lyon and Monterrey take the limelight.

At the weekend it will be worth scavenging for Davis Cup action as the Qualifiers take place around the world with some strong nations on show, like Canada and France, against a few minnows in terms of world beating players – but there is something about Davis Cup that can bring out the best in the underdogs!

WTA Lyon

Italy’s Camila Giorgi leads the field, but there is plenty of French interest to be expected, including Alize Cornet whose run to the Australian Open quarter-final had all the emotions! She gets a wildcard and Caroline Garcia appears as the French poster-girl – she could do with a reversal of fortunes having tumbled down the rankings of late.

WTA Monterrey

It could be an emotional time for expected top seed Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian World No. 15 is the top seed in Monterrey but has been taking to social media and interviews to speak out over the invasion of her home country. 

It is a strong field with plenty of people to watch – can US Open Leylah Fernandez pick up some form, and what of Sloane Stephens whose win in Guadalajara makes her definitely one to keep an eye on this week.

Davis Cup Qualifiers

There is still a chance for some betting action on the Davis Cup qualifiers which can sometimes pit smaller nations against mighty tennis nations but playing for national pride can bring about some surprising results.

Things to be aware of – even though the nominations are made and it is a fair guess who the number one and number two players are, nominations can be changed up to an hour before the match – which maybe lends itself more to in-game betting.

Latest information on the qualifiers this weekend can be found here.

For the latest odds, check out bet365 for this week’s tournaments.