US Open Tennis 2011: Odds for Remaining Women in Field

The quarterfinals of the women's draw at the 2011 US Open are set. From 132 players, play is down to the elite eight.

Seven of the eight remaining players were among the 32 seeded in the tournament. Of the top four, the top two seeds remain.

Only one of the remaining players has won a Grand Slam tournament before. That player has 13 Grand Slams singles titles, towering over the rest of the players remaining.

The average age of the quarterfinalists is 25 years old. The age for the youngest player remaining is 20 while the oldest is 29.

The quarterfinals of the women's draw promises to be very interesting and highly competitive. Most of the matches will be between players who have played very close matches against each other.

Let's take a look at the odds of the remaining women players in the draw, in order from the bigger to lower odds.

Angelique Kerber

Seeding: Unseeded

Country: Germany

QF Opponent: Flavia Pennetta

Head-to-Head Record: 0-1

Odds: 100/1

The only unseeded player in the quarterfinals, Kerber is ranked No. 92 in the world. This is the first time she has reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

She lost easily the only time she played against Flavia Pennetta earlier in July at the Collector Swedish Open Women in straight sets.

Her only win against a seeded player of this tournament was her three-sets upset of Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round.

She had beaten Radwanska twice before, so there was precedent there.

Other than that win, she has sneaked up the draw with wins over other unseeded players.

She has never been this far at a Slam, so the pressure will definitely be on her shoulders. But she might as well look at it as not having anything to lose and everything to win.

If she does the latter, she might sneak up to the semifinals.

Flavia Pennetta

Seeding: 26

Country: Italy

QF Opponent: Angelique Kerber

Head-to-Head Record: 0-1

Odds: 70/1

Flavia Pennetta has reached the quarterfinals in the US Open for the third time in her career. The previous two times she did it were in 2008 and 2009.

As a matter of fact, the US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where she has reached the quarterfinals. It's going to be her best chance to reach the semifinals for the first time.

She is playing against an opponent she has already beaten easily. The only issue with that win is that it was on clay.

Her big win in this tournament came in the third round when she upset Maria Sharapova in three sets. Sharapova was one of the favorites to win the US Open.

Pennetta has taken her spot on the draw and can very well make it to the finals.

She has already beaten this year both of her possible semifinals opponents, Samantha Stosur in the Australia-Italy Fed Cup team match and Vera Zvonareva in the Australian Open.

Pennetta could be the biggest payoff in this tournament.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Seeding: 17

Country: Russia

QF Opponent: Serena Williams

Head-to-Head Record: 0-1

Odds: 40/1

Pavlyuchenkova is a former Australian Open and US Open Junior Champ. She has not been able to replicate that success on the pro circuit.

She reached the semis of the French Open, losing to Francesca Schiavone. She avenged that loss in the fourth round here.

She's had big wins this year against players like Vera Zvonareva, Samantha Stosur and Jelena Jankovic.

She will face Serena for the second time in her career. They played last year at the French Open where Serena won in three sets.

Ever since she turned pro, she's been called by some as the future top player. In order to do that, she will have to go through the best women's player.

So it would be a good time for her to prove the future is now for her.

Andrea Petkovic

Seeding: 10

Country: Germany

QF Opponent: Caroline Wozniacki

Head-to-Head Record: 1-1

Odds: 30/1

Andrea Petkovic is having her best year as a pro in 2011. She has now reached the quarterfinals for the third time in a Grand Slam this year.

She reached the quarterfinals in the Australian Open and French Open prior to making it here in the US Open.

She cracked the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time in her career this past August.

She will face Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. She has split wins with her the two times they have met so far, both this year.

Petkovic defeated Wozniacki in three sets in the fourth round at the Sony Ericcson in Miami in March. That match was on hard courts.

She then lost in straight sets to Wozniacki at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart a month later. This time the match was on clay courts.

In order to make it to the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, she must replicate her match in Miami against Wozniacki. She is certainly playing her best tennis right now.

The winner of the matchup has a potential semifinal clash with Serena Williams.

Samantha Stosur

Seeding: 9

Country: Australia

QF Opponent:  Vera Zvonareva

Head-to-Head Record: 7-2

Odds: 25/1

Samantha Stosur has reached the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time ever. Her previous time this far or beyond in a Grand Slam was last year at the French Open.

She reached the finals of the French last year where she lost to Francesca Schiavone.

Her way to the quarterfinals here has not been an easy one. She just beat 25th seed Maria Kirilenko in a marathon three-sets match.

They played a 32-point tiebreaker in the second set. That was the longest tiebreaker in women's Grand Slam history.

Before that she went three sets against Nadia Petrova, including two tiebreakers and a 7-5 third set.

She has beaten Zvonareva seven straight times. She has beaten her in all surfaces.

Her big serve must be on display again if she is to make it to the semis. The big question here would be if she has recovered from those last two matches.

She has in front of her the best chance she's had so far to make it to the finals here.

Vera Zvonareva

Seeding: 2

Country: Russia

QF Opponent: Samantha Stosur

Head-to-Head Record: 2-7

Odds: 20/1

Vera Zvonareva reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. She also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open this year.

This year, other than her three-sets match in the second round against Kataryna Bondarenko, she has won in straight sets at the US Open.

She dispatched hard-serving, 22nd seed Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 6-3. The surprise there might have been the score, but she had beaten Lisicki twice already this year.

She is a tough competitor playing her best tennis. Her biggest obstacle between her and the semifinals is her opponent, Samantha Stosur.

Vera beat her the first two times they met. That was in 2004. Since then Samantha has beaten her seven straight times, in every surface possible.

The good thing is that the last two times they have played, they have gone three sets. The bad thing is that the three times they have played on hard courts it has not been close.

She definitely has an uphill battle to make it to the semis.

Caroline Wozniacki

Seeding: 1

Country: Denmark

QF Opponent: Andrea Petkovic

Head-to-Head Record: 1-1

Odds: 16/1

The world's No. 1 player is still alive in the semifinals. She survived a close call against former US open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.

Before that match, she had cruised into the fourth round of the US Open. From now on, the road gets really rocky for her.

Her opponent Andrea Petkovic has beaten her already on the hard courts earlier this year. Whoever wins between her and Petkovic will quite possibly face Serena Williams in the semifinals.

Wozniacki still faces the scrutiny of whether she can win a Grand Slam tournament. That is always added pressure for her as she goes deeper in the Slams.

She will have to be as resilient as she was against Kuznetsova from now on if she is to win the US Open.

She seems to be focused on it. It will be entertaining to watch her go after her first Grand Slam.

Serena Williams

Seeding: 28

Country: USA

QF Opponent: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Head-to-Head Record: 1-0

Odds: 8/1

Serena Williams is still the force to be reckoned with in the Women's draw. Just ask her four opponents thus far, especially Ana Ivanovic and Victoria Azarenka.

She has yet to drop a set in the tournament. The biggest challenge so far came at the tiebreak second set against Azarenka.

She is the only player remaining to have won a Grand Slam. She has won 13.

Her head-to-head record against the remaining players in the quarterfinals is 17-5. She has never lost to Wozniacki, Petkovic, Pavlyuchenkova, Kerber or Pennetta.

She is 4-2 against Stosur and 5-3 against Zvonareva. Those two play against each other, so only one can get to face her. That would be in the finals.

No one remaining in the top part of the draw has beaten her. She is hungry, focused and has her sights on Grand Slam No. 14.

No matter which way you look at it, this is Serena Williams' tournament to lose.