The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions is a strange event to finish the season with. It is a fledgling tournament having been set up only last year and it is easy to look upon it as the less glamorous version of the Tour finals in Doha, the ‘fifth Grand Slam’ that will be keenly contested.
The six highest ranked tournament winners of the season who are not in action in Doha are joined by two wildcards, Kimiko Date Krumm, semi finalist last year, and Daniela Hantuchova. This means only three top 20 players feature, but with its criteria for qualification being tournament success rather than ranking points, those participating know how to win under pressure.
The event starts as a straight elimination at a quarter final stage, with Li Na, the highest ranked player, top seed. The Chinese number one was beaten to a tour finals spot by Victoria Azarenka but has produced enough good tennis this year, most notably in reaching the Australian Open semi finals, to be considered the player to beat.
Second seed with the Tennis betting odds, Aravane Razai is the reigning champion who has consolidated her place in the world’s top 10 after breaking through in 2009. She won her maiden premier mandatory event in Madrid and is more than capable of defending this title.
Yanina Wickmayer is one of the game’s brightest talents and is one to follow in the markets for this tournament. She progressed well in all of this year’s Grand Slams but showed her inexperience in wasting a strong position in the US Open last 16 against Kaia Kanepi.
Alisa Kleybanova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova are the only players to have won two titles this year and the two latest Russian starlets are certainly ones to look out for amongst the ATP tour odds next season. Ana Ivanovic is gradually finding her way back into form but remains inconsistent, whilst wildcards Date Krumm and Hantuchova will struggle to make an impact.
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