There is barely anything to choose between Francesca Schiavone and Na Li in the odds for Saturday's French Open women's final at Roland Garros. Defending champion Schiavone is the most marginal of outsiders and her chances are priced evens by Paddy Power, while Li is available at odds of 4/5 as she bids to become the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title.
Schiavone knows all about making history after she became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title last year, while for Li it is her second successive major final. She lost out to Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open in January after she had become the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final.
There really is very little to choose between the two players, with Schiavone the number five seed and she has only lost two sets en route to the final, while Li is seeded six and has only dropped one set so far. The two hardly represent the future of women's tennis at the ages of 30 and 29 respectively but there is plenty at stake and we fancy the fact Schiavone has been there and done it before could give her the edge.
Schiavone beat Samantha Stosur in straight sets in last year's final and interestingly all of the last nine women's French Open finals have been decided in straight sets. PaddyPower offer 4/7 that Saturday's match involves less than 2.5 sets.
Furthermore, in four meetings between Schiavone and Li they have never gone to three sets and they are currently all square with two wins apiece. Again Schiavone has the edge as she has won their only meeting on clay, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round of last year's French Open.
For those who enjoy their stats it could be worth a look at the odds of the first set scoreline on Saturday as the first set of the last three finals has involved a 6-4 scoreline, with Schiavone available at odds of 6/1 to win the first set 6-4 and Li priced 11/2 to win 6-4 with PaddyPower.com.
Schiavone showed tremendous character to overcome French favourite Marian Bartoli in the French Open semi-final on Thursday as she coped with a partisan crown to win through 6-3, 6-3, while Li was hugely impressive in her 6-4, 7-5 last four win over Maria Sharapova.
They both had to cope with windy conditions and if it is blustery again on Saturday there could be plenty of breaks of serve, with Paddy Power offering 6/4 that Schiavone fails to win her first service game and 13/8 that Li loses her opening game on serve.
It promises to be a great spectacle and whoever copes with the pressure of the occasion better should win through, with the correct match score of 2-0 to Schiavone tempting at odds of 11/5 with Paddy Power. That looks good when you consider so many of the Roland Garros finals are decided in straight sets, although Li cannot be underestimated and she is available at 15/8 to win by the same scoreline.
Francesca Schiavone v Na Li Match Betting
Evens Francesca Schiavone
4/5 Na Li
Francesca Schiavone v Na Li Set Betting
11/5 Francesca Schiavone 2-0
10/3 Francesca Schiavone 2-1
15/8 Na Li 2-0
16/5 Na Li 2-1
All odds are supplied courtesy of PaddyPower.com, who provide several other betting markets, including live betting in-running, for all French Open matches.
Posted: Friday, 3rd June 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: french open, french open final, na li, francesca schiavone, paddypower,
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