Sports Blog 01/09/2015: Tennis Preview – US Open, Monday 31st August to Sunday 13th September 2015

The final Grand Slam tournament of the year got underway on Monday, and a host of the game’s most recognisable names are through to the 2nd round already, with the rest playing this afternoon.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Grand Slam without a veritable smorgasbord of spread betting and fixed odds opportunities courtesy of Spreadex, including our Outright Index spreads, where the winner gets 60 points, the runner-up gets 40, the losing semi-finalists get 20 apiece, losing quarter-finalists 10 each, and losing 4th round players 5, with a big fat zero for everyone else.

Women’s Singles
Perhaps the biggest story of the tournament, and indeed the tennis year, surrounds Serena Williams. After winning the Australian Open, the French Open AND Wimbledon in 2015, Williams is potentially on track for the first completed Grand Slam for a single’s player, be it man or woman, since Steffi Graf in 1988. Luckily for Serena, not only has she won in New York for the last 3 years in a row but 16 years after she won her first Grand Slam title (incidentally at the US Open) she is arguably in the best form of her career.

Williams was up 6-0, 2-0 in her 1st round match against Vitalia Diatchenko before the Russian retired, setting up a 2nd round tie against Kiki Bertens and with potential matches against Madison Keys or Agnieszka Radwankska on the horizon. Unsurprisingly Williams is far and away the favourite for the tournament, a sentiment shared by our traders and customers alike, sitting at an Outright Index spread of 37.5-40.5 and with fixed odds of 8/11.

Whilst Serena Williams is in the top half of the women’s draw, it is arguably the bottom half of this year’s US Open that could throw up the tastiest matches in the early rounds. Petra Kvitova takes on Laura Siegemund on Tuesday, and will be hoping to improve on a set of fairly disappointing Grand Slam finishes this year. She goes into the 1st round at a Match Supremacy spread of 15-17 and has one of the stronger Outright Index spreads at 11-14.



Wimbledon fan-favourite Garbine Muguruza is in the same section as Kvitova and will be aiming to build on her 2015 progress, which has gone from Aussie 4th round to French quarter-final to Wimbledon final. Sitting at 9th in the world the Spaniard has an Outright Index spread of 6-8 goes into her 1st round battle against Germany’s Carina Witthoft at an 8-11 Match Supremacy spread.

World no. 4, and last year’s beaten US Open finalist, Caroline Wozniacki is coming off of a 2nd round exit in both the Australian and French Opens alongside a marginally better 4th round exit at Wimbledon, and will be aiming for a much better finish at what is traditionally her best tournament. Wozniacki is at 18/1 to win Open with an Outright Index spread of 9-12, and takes on wild card Jamie Loeb in the 1st round.

Finally there is world no. 2 Simona Halep, the person most likely to trouble Serena Williams since Maria Sharapova pulled out before the tournament began. The young Romanian hasn’t been able to match her impressive form in last year’s Grand Slams, but is on a run of good form and goes into the US Open with the second best Outright Index spread, at 13-16, and fixed odds, at 9/1. She faces New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in the 1st round, and has a Match Supremacy spread of 15.5-17.5.

Men’s Singles
Novak Djokovic could have, like Serena Williams, been on track for a completed Grand Slam in 2015; instead, after a surprise loss to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final the big Serb will just have to settle for the Aussie Open, Wimbledon and, potentially, the US Open. Unsurprisingly after another year of Djokovic dominance the one-time US champion is at an Outright Index spread of 38.5-41.5 alongside 1/1 fixed odds. He is also already through to the 2nd round, where he will face Andreas Haider-Maurer, after dropping only 3 games against Joao Souza in the 1st round.

Two-time former US Open champion Rafael Nadal is also through to the 2nd round after being taken to 4 sets by the 18-year old Croatian Borna Coric, who was making only his 5 appearance at a Grand Slam tournament. If Nadal fails to win the US Open, and after exiting Wimbledon in the 2nd round it is much more than a possibility, it would be the first time the decorated Spaniard has failed to win a Grand Slam title in calendar year since 2004. Still, Nadal can never be counted out completely and, with a 2nd round match against Diego Schwartzman on the horizon, he sits at an Outright Index spread of 10-13.

There is then last year’s surprise US Open winner Marin Cilic; bar a 2010 Aussie Open semi-final the Croatian hasn’t come close to winning a Grand Slam title before or after his 2014 victory in New York. Yet he had no easy ride in last year’s US Open, beating Gilles Simon, Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer on the way to a successful final against Kei Nishikori (who is shockingly already out of the US Open after losing in 5 sets to Benoit Paire). Unlike his opponent in last year’s final, Cilic is through to the 2nd round after beating Guido Pella, and has an Outright Index spread of 6.5-8.5 alongside 40/1 fixed odds.



As in the women’s tournament, there is still plenty of excitement to come in the lower half of the draw. Easily the biggest match involves Britain’s own Andy Murray, who takes on tennis’ bad boy Nick Kyrgios in the 1st round. It’s been a frustrating 2 years for Murray since his 2013 Wimbledon win, with 4 losing quarter-finals, 3 losing semi-finals and a loss in the 2015 Aussie Open final. Yet Murray’s one other Grand Slam title came in New York in 2012, leaving him at an Outright Index spread of 22.5-25.5 alongside 4/1 fixed odds.

His opponent, meanwhile, has been making waves for all the wrong reason. Kyrgios has been able to sneak into the US Open after being handed a 28 day suspended sentence following abusive comments towards Stan Wawrinka in their match at the 2015 Rogers Cup. That came after the Australian’s antics at Wimbledon that saw many accuse him of tanking his own performance against Richard Gasquet in the 4th round. At 200/1 Kyrgios is a long shot to win the tournament, and that is if he gets past Murray in the 1st round, with the Scot finding favour in a 17-20 Match Supremacy spread.

Finally there is Roger Federer. The tennis legend hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since 2012, but looked near his best during Wimbledon only to come unstuck in the final against Novak Djokovic. Even if he doesn’t win the tournament Federer still has the capability to provide some unmatched magic on the courts, and ahead of his 1st round match against Leonardo Mayer (where the multi-champion is fancied at a Match Supremacy spread of 21.5-23.5) the Swiss maestro has an Outright Index spread of 24.5-27.5 with 7/2 fixed odds.