Clay court campaign moves on to Madrid Open

In the women’s singles draw, defending Madrid ladies champion Maria Sharapova, who is seeded third, plays Swiss-born Timea Bacsinszky for the first time on clay, having being stunned in straight sets in their initial encounter last year.

Russian star Sharapova set that shock loss in China straight by subsequently crushing Bacsinszky, of Romanian and Hungarian parentage, at Wimbledon, dropping just three games against her in SW19.

This explains an outside price of 5/2 for another upset. Sharapova is strongly odds-on, however, at 2/7 to win and 4/5 to do so in straight sets.

WTA world number 12 Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, must be wary of opening Madrid opponent Sam Stosur, because she lost to the Aussie in their only previous meeting on clay.

There’s nothing to choose between these two in previous head-to-heads at a couple of victories each, so Stosur looks real value at 2/1 to knock Kerber out here, and is a nifty 9/2 to do so in three sets again.

Runner-up in 2014 and second seed Simona Halep only has a 33 per cent success ratio against Alize Cornet, so the Frenchwoman is a fabulous 4/1 to stun the Romanian who has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence on the women’s tour.

Perhaps the tie of round one, though, is veteran Venus Williams, sister of top seed Serena, playing twice beaten Madrid finalist Victoria Azarenka.

Belarus’ best export and two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka defeated Grand Slam great Venus in Doha earlier this year at the semi-final stage when given a wildcard.

It’s odds-on to happen again at 4/7, though the older of the Williams sisters boasts a 4-1 head-to-head advantage over Azarenka. Venus is 5/4 to avenge that high-profile losS from February. Azarenka looks a great bet if it goes to three sets, though, at 11/4.