French Open Betting / Gary Boswell / 22 May 2008 /

Gary Boswell' second instalment of his look at the women's draw contains such names as Elena Dementieva and a certain 18-year old that goes by the name of Alizė Cornet

Bartoli's conqueror at the Italian Open, Patty Schnyder, is second on my list. She is also available at [126.0] in places which is too long for a senior player whose consistency has taken her to the 4th round on five occasions and the Quarter final at Roland Garros in 1998. She was also semi-finalist in the Australian in 2004 and whilst 30 years old now and arguably an impossible winner because of her age, she strikes me as a seriously good bet to get through the early rounds and thus become a prime candidate for a hedge bet later on.

As a lefty, she has always been considered a difficult opponent by her contemporaries and her current 11th ranking shows that she is still playing as well as she ever has. A compatriot of Bartoli's, born in Baech, I watched the recent tussle with Marion closely and was very impressed with the Schnyder double handed backhand in particular. If, as I suspect, Bartoli was back close to her best, this was a significant win for Schnyder. She went out in the last eight in Italy against Venus Williams and I seriously fancy her to achieve same again if the draw falls well for her.

Third on my list is the 2004 losing finalist Elena Dementieva who is perhaps not considered an outsider as the current world number 7 who has two previous fourth rounds at the French aswell as her heartbreaking defeat in the final. [23.0] is the current Betfair price making her more of a middle ranker but she rates highly on my list of possible winners from outside the big guns now that we have an open year.

She is one I will definitely want on my side in a portfolio and another for whom last eight looks likely if the draw falls kindly. A definite clay court specialist in excellent current form (playing in Istanbul this week where her results should be watched) it has been argued that her fragile emotions -which exploded into terrible distress at her mauling by Myskina in the 2004 final - condemn her to never winning a big one.

My tracking tells me that her nerves have finally been conquered and at 27 years of age, with the perfect game for the surface, she is a big price at anything over [20.0].

Fellow Russian Vera Zvonereva is fourth on my list. Ranked 9th in the world in 2004 and a French Open Quarter-finalist in 2003, Zvonereva has burst back onto the scene this year after a long period of injury and could be a real wild card and an excellent bet at anything over [40.0]. Despite her injury, she still has age on her side and could be about to move up the rankings as she had promised to do four years ago when injury hit. She is the candidate who comes into the Open in the most outstanding current form..

..unless you count Alizė Cornet. Her appearance at the age of 18 in the Italian Open final was perhaps prejudiced by the withdrawals of Serena and Sharapova but still rates a most unexpected and startling occurrence coming into the Grand Slam in her native country. Well known as the gladiatorial arena, Cornet's opponents at Garros are sure to be subjected to the thumbs down and that could indeed catapult her into the latter stages here if her nerve continues to hold.

She undoubtedly has the game and the consistent current form too. Final of Acapulco in February and success at Amelia Island and Charleston in April, she is suddenly ranked 20 following the win at the Italian over world number three Svetlana Kuznetsova. Perhaps slightly underpriced at the currently available [40.0] but still of enormous interest considering her age and the fact that she hails from Nice.

Forget Henman Hill, that's in the past, we are about to witness the emergence of Cornet Corner!!

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