Australian Open Betting / Ralph Ellis / 21 January 2010 /

As all the talk in the women's draw is of favourite Serena and a quarter-final showdown between Belgian duo Clijsters and Henin, Ralph Ellis tells us how Venus has quietly gone about her business. Well maybe not that quietly...

How many moons does Venus have? No, that's not an astrological question, but catching up with the latest bit of gossip from Down Under at the Australian Open. Because Venus Williams has inadvertently set off one of those great worldwide media debates - was she or wasn't she wearing any underwear during her first round win over Lucie Safarova? Let's just say that the pictures of her bending over to collect her racquets at the end of the match suggest she was being somewhat cheeky!

Now this is where she must be glad she is in Melbourne and not at Wimbledon, because if it was back here in June the news reporters would be having a field day. As far as I can see, however, nobody plucked up the courage to ask about her attire, or lack of it, in the press conference after she'd easily won her second round match early this morning. She beat Sybille Bammer 6-2 7-5, incidentally.

It's not unusual for either of the Williams sisters to try to use a Grand Slam event to whip up a bit of publicity for their sponsors, and last summer Venus was shameless in the way she tried to plug her own clothing brand - EleVen - every time she came off court at SW19. Is she trying to do the same again? Well if it helps find an answer, there isn't any underwear included in the catalogue of clothes on her official website!

The point behind this frivolity is that, until the great was she or wasn't she debate began, Venus had been sliding very quietly under the radar at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. And that might just be a good thing for us.

While her sister Serena is [4.1] favourite to win the title, and the great discussion has centred on the potential for a quarter-final clash between the comeback queens Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, the elder Williams sister has looked in as good form as ever in her first couple of matches. At [13.5] she represents a value bet to recapture a title she has never won - the nearest was reaching the final in 2003.

Venus will be 30 this summer, and is never more dangerous than when she has a bit of a point to prove. I know that because I've followed her career closely since travelling down to Eastbourne to do a piece about both Williams sisters before they had hit the big time. I watched the two of them blaze the ball erratically around a practice court, and wrote a piece suggesting they were more hype than hope. Every time one of them has lifted a Grand Slam title since I've received a text from the sports editor to remind me about my judgement! Between the two of them that's 18 times. They are due to meet in the semi-finals.

Serena should be a safe [1.46] to win her quarter of the draw, and Venus looks value at [3] to do the same. They both proved a long time ago they are no - ehm - flash in the pan!

Five things you might not know about Kim Clijsters

1. Born in 1983 in Bilzen in the Flemish region of Belgium, her dad Lei was a hard man defender who won 40 caps and the European Cup Winners Cup with Mechelen in 1988

2. Her mum Els Vandecaetsbeek was a former national gymnastic champion. "I got my strong legs from dad and flexibility from mum," she has said

3. Her 2001 French Open final defeat made her the first Belgian, man or woman, to reach a Grand Slam final

4. She became a mum in February 2008 when her little girl Jade Ellie was born - but a few weeks later became a sister again too when her mum had a baby boy with second husband Jan Goossens

5. With career prize money of more than 16million dollars, she recently paid for the building of a brand new orphanage in South East India

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