Akron WTA Finals Odds & Preview: Six Players Make Their Tournament Debut

• The 50th WTA Finals begins Wednesday, November 10th in Guadalajara, Mexico
• Eight of the best players in women’s singles will be competing
• Continue below for opening odds to win the tournament outright, and our best bet prediction

The final tournament of the year for women’s singles is here, with the best of the best on the year taking the court. Six of the eight players competing will be making their tournament debut, with just Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza being the only two who have played in the event before.

Ashleigh Barty did qualify for the event, but recently withdrew. And out of the eight players competing, Barbora Krejcikova is the only one to have won a Grand Slam this year, as she captured the French Open in June.

Take a look below for the odds to win the tournament outright, and what we might be able to expect this coming week.

Akron WTA Finals Odds

Odds as of November 9th at DraftKings.

The Group Breakdown

The 2021 tournament draw was announced with the women being divided into two groups. The two groups are Group Chichen Itza and Group Teotihuacan. This will be how the round-robin format is being determined.

Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, Iga Swiatek, and Paula Badosa round out Group Chichen Itza, while Anett Kontaveit, Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza make up Group Teotihuacan.

Group Chichen Itza has the younger, less experienced players competing. All four in the group will be making their tournament debut. Group Teotihuacan has a mixture of players who have been here before, and a few brand new.

The Favorite

The 23-year old is entering the tournament with +400 odds to win the event. The favorite and World No. 2 has had an impressive year that led to that No. 2 ranking. But heading into this tournament, she is still lacking momentum.

A positive COVID test forced her to withdraw from Indian Wells, and her first tournament back was the Kremlin Cup, where she ended up losing in her second match to Ekaterina Alexandrova. That will have been the most recent match prior to the WTA Finals.

How World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka paired her power with breakthrough consistency to achieve a major breakthrough and qualify for her 1st @WTA Finals.

Sabalenka’s Road to Guadalajara: https://t.co/jArySfXvrK#AKRONWTAFinals pic.twitter.com/BjaIgvNQSl

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) November 5, 2021

This shouldn’t downplay the career best year she has had. But it just puts into question if she can bounce back to the level of play she was displaying prior to having to take some time off.

But the Belarusian did capture a title and reach two Grand Slam semifinals this year alone. Can she find that momentum to take the last tournament of the year?

Best Bet

This is a tournament where the best of the best in women’s singles play compete. Over the course of the year, each player was awarded points depending how far they made it in tournaments. So obviously, every single player has had strong showings, and has had deep runs in many tournaments this year.

With that being said, how does one determine a best bet in this tournament?

A player that really caught the tennis world by storm leading up to this tournament is Kontaveit. The Estonian seemed to be out of the running to qualify for this tournament, until she went on a huge run. The 25-year old had a remarkable run at the end of the season. She’s gone 26-2 since the end of August, and has captured four titles. The confidence and momentum she has heading into this tournament is unmatched.

Best Bet: Kontaveit (+500)