The US Open Women's doubles first round gets underway this week with Serena and Venus Williams being drawn against a Czech young star and veteran Lucie Hradecka.

The tie presents an interesting opportunity to see some long-term stars of the women's game face off against a potential star of the future, as veterans and aspiring up-and-comers aim to combine to go all the way.

Big things are expected of the Czech pair who navigated their way through three qualifying rounds to make it to the competition proper, and with a less experienced player playing alongside her veteran compatriot it is sure to provide the perfect blend of peak physical ability and experience.

Hradecka can play with aggression at times but can play at a slower pace and wait out her opponent when necessary, she has picked up many wins so far in her career including a French Open and US Open win in doubles.

In terms of some potential dark horses of the singles, Paddy Power's US Open tennis odds offer former World Number One Karolina Pliskova at 40/1 to achieve glory in the US. 

When it comes to betting on tennis, in the women's game, winning from these odds is not unheard of as there is no top three as there is in the men's game.

Despite once reaching the height of number one status in the World, Pilskova is yet to win a grand slam and will hope she can put an end to that sooner or later.

She has a wealth of experience at grand slams but has often fallen at the final hurdle, but perhaps her past failures could provide the experience needed to win at the US Open, as well provide the desire and motivation to finally go all the way and win a grand slam.

With Petra Kvitova, there is another big name that is seen as an outsider for this tournament but like Pliskova she has years of experience as well as many grand slam victories, as she won Wimbledon twice.

Kvitova reached the final at the Cincinnati Open last week but Caroline Garcia won comfortably.

Kvitova is offered at 40/1 to win the tournament in the US and holds outside hopes of doing so, as the pre-tournament favourite rarely tends to win the competition and this opens the door for many outsiders which could include the Czech stars.

Tunisian Ons Jabeur likely provides the best chance of a tournament winner from the mentioned slight outsiders, similarly to Pliskova she has been a consistent performer, regularly featuring in the latter stages of grand slam events but has also fallen at the final hurdle before and is desperate to finally record grand slam success.

Jabeur was ranked at World Number Two as recently as June this year and made it to the final at Wimbledon so she would not be entering uncharted waters if she were to make a deep run into the tournament.
 

Her three titles earned on the WTA Tour provided her with a taste of success that could be built on to achieve the biggest victory of her career so far in September, a win in the US is not out of the realms of possibility for the most successful African and Arab tennis player of all time.


 

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