Maria Sharapova beats Justine Henin, Serena Williams out

Maria Sharapova won her quarterfinal match of the Australian Open against Justine Henin, Serena Williams out of the competition.

Maria Sharapova beats Justin Henin, Serena Williams out Maria Sharapova offered the first big upset at the 2008 Australian Open, when on Tuesday the fifth-ranked Sharapova won the quarterfinal against world's No.1 Justine Henin 6-4, 6-0. Maria Sharapova upset not only the fans of Henin, by ending her 32-game winning streak, but bettors and bookmakers alike. Justine Henin was listed as the ultimate favorite to win the 2008 Australian Open at the British online bookmaker Bet 365 with odds 6/5 last week. At that time Maria Sharapova was listed with odds 7/1 and if you have caught our previous Grand Slam article and took advantage of the numbers on Sharapova, you may be very lucky come the final. Of course, such odds are no longer offered on Maria Sharapova, who is now the favorite to win the 2008 Australian Open with the British bookie, listed with odds of 8/11.

Another upset for the bookmakers was Serena Williams, who was the second favorite to win the Grand Slam tennis competition with odds 9/2, right behind Justine Henin. But on Tuesday Serena was badly beaten by third-seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-4 and Jankovic will now meet Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals of the 2008 Australian Open. Jelena Jankovic is listed with odds 15/2 to win the Australian Open, but keep in mind that Jankovic mentioned during her post-game interview "I felt a sharp pain in my quad, and it was like a knife went in my leg. It was really painful." A possible injury would certainly decide the game between Jankovic and Sharapova right from the beginning and we would certainly see Maria Sharapova at the 2008 Australian Open final.

Here is the latest list of odds to win the 2008 Australian Open, as posted by the British online bookmaker Bet 365:

Maria Sharapova 8/11
Venus Williams 10/3
Ana Ivanovic 11/2
Jelena Jankovic 15/2
Daniela Hantuchova 25/1
Agniezka Radwanska 25/1

Published on 01/22/2008