Both the women's and men's events will be decided by the top two seeds in the draw this year and the Sunday has been reserved for the women's Final between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.
There is no doubt in my mind that Serena Williams is capable of wiping the floor with any opponent she plays on any given day and she is going to begin this Final as a big favourite considering the form she has shown in the last two weeks.
If she brings that into the Final, Serena should win this one very comfortably, especially if Victoria Azarenka serves as poorly as she had over the last few matches. If Azarenka can improve that area of her game, she has shown she can match Williams off the ground and some of their matches over the last year have been close with the odd blowout for Serena thrown in.
Azarenka has power and accuracy, but most important of all, she has the mental belief that she is capable of hanging around with Williams and all of those factors could make this a closer Final than some people may think. Of course, Azarenka cannot be as generous in allowing her serve to fall as she has been in the last couple of matches because she just won't get a lot of chances on Williams' serve if the American is serving as well as she had.
I also am expecting Serena to have some nerves as she knows the significance of winning more Grand Slams to cement her legacy as one of the best, if not the best, female player to have ever played, while she will also want to be the player that picked up 2 Grand Slam tittles this year. A loss means Azarenka is the player with 2 Grand Slams to finish 2013 and there is the feeling that the World Number 2 has unfinished business having served for the title a year ago.
Azarenka has won the last 2 matches on the hard courts between the players and I do think she is mentally focused on winning this match- whether she has enough quality over two/three hours to actually get through is another matter, but taking 4.5 games on the underdog looks a lot considering how close their matches on the hard courts have been. She has to serve better, in case you haven't gathered that from this post above, but I believe this is the match Azarenka has been focusing on for two weeks and I expect a full performance from her.
I hope she can pull the win as my outright choice at the start of the tournament, but I believe Azarenka can make a Final of this and nerves to perhaps affect Serena if the World Number 2 can stick with her in the early goings.
MY PICK: Victoria Azarenka + 4.5 Games @ 2.10 Bet Victor (2 Units)
US Open Update: 29-38, - 9.22 Units (112 Units Staked, - 8.23% Yield)
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