Roger Federer has won 20 grand slam titles during his storied career but has captured just one singles medal in four Olympic appearances, taking silver in 2012. Martina Hingis has five grand slam championships on her resume but lost in the second round of her only Olympic singles appearance in 1996. Ninth-seeded Belinda Bencic can accomplish what those Swiss greats failed to when she faces unseeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic on Friday in the women's singles gold-medal match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The match at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo is scheduled to begin at 11 p.m. ET. William Hill Sportsbook lists Vondrousova as the -137 favorite (risk $137 to win $100) on the money line in the latest Bencic vs. Vondrousova odds, while Bencic is a +120 underdog. William Hill also has the over-under for total games at 21.5. Before making any 2020 Olympics women's singles final picks or tennis predictions, you need to check out the expert Olympic tennis picks and analysis from SportsLine's elite handicapper Gavin Mair.
A renowned women's tennis handicapper, Mair cashed in huge at the 2020 French Open. He picked Iga Swiatek to win (-163) and win in straight sets (+140), and he was right on both counts. Mair also called unseeded Jelena Ostapenko (80-1) winning the 2017 French Open, Naomi Osaka (32-1) winning the 2018 U.S. Open and Bianca Andreescu (20-1) winning the 2019 U.S. Open.
Earlier this month, Mair correctly predicted a 7-6 score in the second set (+550) in the Wimbledon final between Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova. He also has hit on all five of his plays spanning the quarterfinals and semifinals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women's singles tournament, including three for plus-money.
Now, Mair has broken down the latest Olympic tennis women's singles final odds and released his coveted best bets. He's sharing all of his 2020 Olympics tennis picks and betting analysis at SportsLine.
2020 Tokyo Olympics Bencic vs. Vondrousova preview
Mair expects the gold-medal match between Bencic and Vondrousova will be a tight battle that is high in quality. Vondrousova already has dispatched three of the top 16 seeds in the tournament - two with relative ease. She needed three sets to knock off No. 16 Kiki Bertens in the first round but cruised past second-seeded - and world No. 2 - Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4 in the third round and defeated fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
The 22-year-old Vondrousova has played in a match of similar magnitude just once before in her career, losing to Ashleigh Barty in the final of the 2019 French Open. However, she got the better of Bencic in their only previous meeting, defeating the Swiss 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the Miami Open earlier this year. Vondrousova already has secured the best Olympic singles finish of any woman in Czech Republic history as Jana Novotna won the country's only other medal by taking bronze in the 1996 Games.
Vondrousova has cruised through her last four matches, but Bencic has won three consecutive hard-fought battles to reach the final. The 24-year-old began the 2020 Games with back-to-back straight-set victories but went the distance in triumphs over No. 8 seed - and reigning French Open champion - Barbora Krejcikova, 13th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No. 15 seed Elena Rybakina. The semifinal match against Rybakina lasted 2 hours, 44 minutes and saw Bencic save six set points in the opening set to win it in a tiebreak in 73 minutes.
Bencic, who is 10-4 in three-set matches this year, has been a bit of a surprise in Tokyo after having lost in the first round of Wimbledon to the 102nd-ranked Kaja Juvan. But she is one victory away from becoming the first Swiss woman to win an Olympic singles medal and joining Marc Rosset (1992) as the only players in the nation's history to capture singles gold at The Games. Bencic, who also will be competing for gold with partner Viktorija Golubic in women's doubles, has reached the final in two of her last four tournaments.
How to make 2020 Tokyo Olympics Bencic vs. Vondrousova picks
Mair has locked in a pair of best bets for the final, both of which return plus-money. You need to check out his expert picks and analysis before considering any 2020 Olympic tennis picks of your own.
So who wins Belinda Bencic vs. Marketa Vondrousova? And which big plus-money bets should you be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see Gavin Mair's best bets for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women's final, all from the tennis expert who has called long-shot winners of three grand slam women's titles since 2017 and hit all five of his quarterfinal and semifinal bets, and find out.
