Serena Williams has reached her third Grand Slam final in 12 months and she is expected to win her eighth Wimbledon final, according to the tennis betting odds.
Across the net stands a fearsome competitor in Simona Halep. The 2018 French Open winner will no doubt prove to be Williams’ toughest test in this tournament as she aims to win a record-equaling 24th major title.
Covers Experts’ Tennis Insiders dissect the Wimbledon betting odds and gives their predictions, picks and best bets for Saturday’s final.
SERENA WILLIAMS (-185) VS. SIMONA HALEP (+165)
WHY BET SERENA WILLIAMS
Coming into the tournament, Serena Williams’ season had been plagued by injuries and she hadn’t spent enough time on court. An unfortunate ankle twist ended her Australian Open hopes while she simply looked rusty in defeat to Sofia Kenin in Paris.
She’s played her way into contention at SW19 though and, despite dropping sets against Juvan and Riske, she’s always looked in control. Her 6-1/6-2 demolition of Barbora Styrcova in Thursday’s semifinal sent out a clear message of just how well her game works on this surface.
Playing mixed doubles with Andy Murray has proved a huge help. The footwork and quick movements required in doubles have certainly sharpened her singles play while she also wasn’t fazed by Strycova’s variety.
WHY BET SIMONA HALEP
Halep’s grass-court achievements were limited heading into Wimbledon, but she took full advantage of some high-profile exits to storm to the final, dismantling Elina Svitolina in just over an hour Thursday.
This was Halep’s first match against a seeded player all tournament, but she made light work of the challenge. She’s often played too defensively at times, but her aggression paid off in the semis and she’ll need to continue playing attacking tennis.
This will be Halep’s fifth major final - an achievement not to be understated given the open nature of women’s tennis in recent years and also testament to her work rate. At 1.68m she doesn’t win many cheap points with her serve and all points are fought for.
HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUP
Williams leads the head-to-head 9-1, so the size of the task certainly won’t be lost on the Romanian. She has closed the gap in recent years, taking a set in three of the five previous meetings. However, the same problem remains: how does she stop Serena Williams destroying her second serve?
Halep got over 70 percent of first serves in during her quarterfinal and semifinal wins but she’s still only beaten Williams once despite landing an average of 73 pecent first serves in their head-to-head.
One thing she must do is keep the opening games close and prevent Williams from dominating the early exchanges. Halep can create nice angles and she must try to move Williams around the baseline as much as possible while also being aggressive. She hit some fantastic down-the-line winners against Svitolina, but she’ll have to take more risks against Williams.
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This is only their second career meeting on grass and it’s hard to look past Williams’ power still being key to this matchup. Her shots will skim through the court at pace and even with Halep’s world-class defense and movement, no one hits the ball as hard as Serena. She’s a very difficult opponent to prepare for in that regard.
One glaring trend: Serena has wobbled in recent finals. She didn’t perform against Kerber here last year and she completely derailed against Osaka in New York. There’s been huge hype around her equaling Margaret Court’s Grand Slam record and don’t be surprised if that plays on her mind during Saturdays final.
Halep is also a difficult opponent to play against, getting balls back into court and forcing foes to play an extra shot. Any tightness in the arms or legs will be exposed in the big moments. That said, Serena’s power and wingspan will prove decisive in the end.
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