Big winning bets from Wednesday's tennis & FA Cup football

Who won the WTA Finals in Mexico?

Garbine Muguruza became the first Spaniard to win the WTA Finals by beating Anett Kontaveit in straight sets in Guadalajara. The number 6 seed, who now rises to number 3 in the world, beat her Estonian opponent 6-3 7-5 to win the season ending event. Number 8 seed Kontaveit was out for revenge after Muguruza had ended her 12-match winning streak in the round robin stage, but the Spanish two-time Grand Slam champ prevailed again to take her 10^th WTA singles title.

Points Supremacy Kontaveit/ Muguruza (settled at -18)

Some eyebrows were raised when number 8 seed Kontaveit was installed as 8/11 favourite to win the biggest title of her career to date against two-time Grand Slam winner Muguruza, especially after the Spaniard had beaten her Estonian opponent in straight sets at the round robin stage. Before the match, Kontaveit’s Points Supremacy spread was set at 1-5, but we saw plenty of punters siding with the more experienced player and selling. Those sellers were rewarded with a profit of 19 times their stake, with Muguruza winning 81 points to Kontaveit’s 63.

Did non-league Stockport County complete their giant killing of neighbours Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup?

In one of the games of the season, non-league Stockport beat League One Bolton 5-3 after extra-time in their FA Cup first round replay. Bolton were 2-0 up inside six minutes, and when the hosts, roared on by a sell out crowd at Edgeley Park for the first time in 13 years, grabbed a goal back after 24 minutes, it took Bolton only four minutes to regain their two-goal advantage. The Hatters refused to lie down, and pulled one back through Scott Quigley just before half-time. Ashley Palmer, who had earlier scored an own goal to add to Elias Kachunga’s second-minute opener, sent the home crowd wild with an equaliser five minutes from time, and County took over in the extra period. Quigley grabbed his second goal five minutes into the extra period and Ollie Crankshaw added a fifth. The substitute threw his shirt off in celebration and, with the crowd on the pitch, never found it again to restart the game, instead putting on a new shirt with no name on the back!

Total Goal Minutes (settled at 190)

We told yesterday how we’d seen some buyers in this market, perhaps unsurprisingly given the open nature of the original tie which had finished in a 2-2 draw. Just like in the first game though, where all the goals were in the first half, buyers of Total Goal Minutes were left a little frustrated by all the action so early in the game. Bolton were two up in six minutes, and of the six goals scored in normal time – remembering that extra-time doesn’t count in this market – only one was scored in the second half. Still, buyers of the Total Goal Minutes spread of 140-150 made 40 times their bets.

What are the chances of Cameron Norrie progressing at the ATP Finals?

The British Number 1 lost his first game after a late call up as an injury replacement yesterday and his chances of qualifying for the semi-finals have already gone, even before he faces Novak Djokovic in the final group game tomorrow. Norrie had been practicing in Turin on the off chance he was needed as the second injury replacement, and after Jannik Sinner had taken over from Matteo Berrettini, Stefanos Tsitsipas’s decision to withdraw allowed the Brit in to face Casper Ruud. He made a great start, winning the first set 6-1, but the Norwegian settled down in the second set and eventually came out 1-6 6-3 6-4 winner.

Set 1: Cross Points (settled at 476)

Ruud admitted afterwards that playing Norrie had caught him underprepared, having woken up yesterday morning ready to take on Tsitsipas. With the Brit fresh after a week of practice in Turin, with one eye on his upcoming Davis Cup duties for Great Britain, he made a quick start and blasted through the first set quickly, taking it 6-1. Punters who fancied the opener to be a short set sold the Set 1: Cross Points market, which is made up by multiplying one player’s total points in the set by the other’s. Before the match, the spread was set at 1043-1118, meaning sellers won 576 times their stake.