A Step Ahead: French Open

Back in late January The Overrule tipped Svetlana Kuznetsova for the French Open at 150/1 and another opportunity presents itself in early April to take advantage of a value price on a likely contender for the title. Kuznetsova is now best priced 50/1 to win Roland Garros and as short as 33/1 and The Overrule believes our second venture into the outright market will prove to be another case of us buying the price at the right time.

Sam Stosur has an outstanding record in Paris over the past few years and the 20/1 on offer has to be snapped up for her to have another good run at the French Open. Stosur is as short as 12/1 and that price is a far more accurate representation of her capabilities. In 2009 the Australian reached the last four, went one better a year later in reaching the final, suffered an early exit in the third round in 2011, before another semi-final appearance last year.

This year's French Open for the women will be the most open Grand Slam of the year with no sure frontrunners for the title. This presents the possibility of some big prices giving good runs for your money and we feel pretty comfortable with Kuznetsova 150/1 and Stosur 20/1 as part of our portfolio with the possibility of more additions and abilities to lay off once the tournament begins.

Stosur is a curious case for me, she's only ever won three singles titles in her career and yet one of them happens to be the US Open - which I know to my cost, but that's a story for another day! Sam is one of those rare players on tour who can produce a good tournament out of nowhere and off the back of no form. She's often very hard to read as a bettor. Playing well doesn't mean she'll play well the next day, likewise a run of bad form doesn't mean she won't be capable of reaching the latter stages of an event.

Sam's form has been poor this season and is returning from injury in Charleston later this evening. Providing she remains healthy she is one of the players on tour who will expect to make some noise during this clay court season and the time to back her for the French Open is now.

No article on Stosur is complete without this...


The Overrule will be backing Stosur with two points each-way which means two points at 20/1 to win the title and two points at 10/1 to reach the final.

2* Sam Stosur win French Open (each-way) @ 20/1 (Paddy Power) (each-way terms 1/2 odds 1-2 places)