Karolina Muchova’s Australian Open Odds Shorten to +900 After Upsetting Ashleigh Barty; Naomi Osaka Still Favored
- Karolina Muchova upset No.1 Ashleigh Barty in the quarterfinals dramatically improving her odds to win
- Naomi Osaka is still the favorite to win
- Read below for updated odds to win the tournament and who we think is the best bet
We’re down to the final four at the 2021 Australian Open.
The top two favorites to win the tournament Osaka, and Serena Williams will face off in the first semi’s tonight, followed by Jennifer Brady vs Karolina Muchova. The way the draw played out, means that we could have a first time Grand Slam winner as neither Brady nor Muchova have achieved that yet.
See below for the updated odds to win outright, and where we think the best bet lies.
Updated Odds to Win 2021 Australian Open
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Naomi Osaka | +125 |
| Serena Williams | +175 |
| Jennifer Brady | +400 |
| Karolina Muchova | +900 |
Odds taken Feb. 17th from DraftKings
Muchova’s Stuns Barty
The 25th seed, Muchova is having herself an unbelievable Australian Open. She has now upset three players in the Top 20 seeding, including Ash Barty, in what was a come from behind win.
Not only was Barty a favorite to win the tournament, she’s the No. 1 player in the world, and was the strong favorite to win her quarter at+200, in comparison to Muchova’s +1800. Muchova’s odds to win the tournament prior to her match against Barty stood at +2250, which was incredibly shorter than her February 10th odds of +8000.
The 24-year old is playing the best tennis she’s every played as she looks to win her maiden Grand Slam.
Brady will be another uphill battle for Muchova, but at this rate, is their anyone she can’t beat? Muchova has yet to lose a match in 2021, with her win against Barty extending her record to 8-0. She went on to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, with that first set loss, being the first of the tournament for her.
Will Brady end Muchova’s incredible run at the Australian Open?
She’ll need to come out in her semifinal match a lot sharper than she did against Barty is she wants to continue. That first set was all Barty, where Muchova had 16 unforced errors and only one winner.
Osaka Still Favored
Osaka is still favored for a reason. She’s absolutely dominated at the Aussie Open thus far, having only dropped a single set, and a total of 32 games in five matches.
She’s coming off a strong quarterfinal win against Su-Wei Hsieh, defeating her opponent 6-2, 6-2.
Her toughest match of the tournament comes in the semifinals when she takes on Williams. The last two times Osaka and Williams faced each other, each took a match in straight sets, respectively. Both Williams and Osaka have been playing great at the tournament.
The 24-year old has won 19 consecutive matches, dating back to last year, including a 10-0 record in the quarterfinals or later at Grand Slams.
Osaka’s mentality that she’s been vocal about in the past has really been a factor in all her recent matches. After allowing times where she wasn’t playing her best get her feeling really low, she now does what she can to not get too high, or too low.
Again, this semifinal match between the number three and 10th seed is the arguably the harder one. I believe that the winner of this match is still the obvious choice to win the tournament. Even if their opponent in the final stacks up against them physically and how they’ve played throughout the past two weeks, the winner here will undoubtedly have more experience, and sometimes that’s the edge you need.
Because Osaka looks to be the one to beat in her semifinals match, I’d say she’s still the best bet to win. She hasn’t given any reason to think otherwise.
A graduate of Sport Media at Ryerson University, Hayley is the ultimate student of sports. Whether she is playing it, watching it, debating it, or writing it, it's safe to assume sport consumes the majority of her life. She has worked both internationally and with the NBA.
