Sports Blog 08/07/2015: Wimbledon Preview – Men’s Singles Quarter-finals, Wednesday 8th July 2015

There has been some glorious tennis at this year’s Wimbledon, as well as few upsets, ahead of the men’s singles quarter-finals on Wednesday afternoon!

As ever Spreadex has a smorgasbord of fixed odds and spread betting opportunities for your pleasure, including our Outright Index spread, where the winner gets 60 points, the runner-up gets 40, the losing semi-finalists get 20 and the losing quarter-finalists get 10.



With that in mind we turn our attention to the tennis, and first up sees Andy Murray take on the only unseeded player left in the men’s draw Vasek Pospisil. It’s the first time Pospisil has reached a Gram Slam quarter-final, and it has been a battle every step of the way; only one match hasn’t gone to 5 sets, and even that went to 4, leaving him as one of the more tired contestants left in the competition. He has also been fairly fortunate with his draw, one that has seen him face wild cards and low seeded players. However, he did the beat the man (Viktor Troicki) who beat the man (Dustin Brown) who beat Rafael Nadal, so that’s something. Pospisil has a hefty fixed odds price of 150/1 to take the title alongside a meagre Outright Index spread of 10-12.

Bar a couple of weak sets, one against Andreas Seppi and one against Ivo Karlovic, Murray has been fairly unruffled at this year’s Wimbledon, leaving him with the second best fixed odds and Outright Index spread, at 9/4 and 34.5-37.5 respectively. Granted, the Scot has had a fairly fortunate draw, with the early exit of Nadal leaving him with a cleaner path to the semi-finals than initially looked likely. Yet he slumped to defeat at this point last year, also to supposedly ‘lesser’ competition in the form of Grigor Dimitrov, so Murray will have to be careful about any complacency going into quarter-final. He enters the match at a Murray/Pospisil Match Supremacy spread of 19.5-21.5.

The winner of Murray’s match will face either Roger Federer or Gilles Simon in a semi-final. In reaching the quarter-final Simon has accomplished his furthest ever point at Wimbledon; in fact it is only the second time he has reached a Grand Slam quarter-final, the other being in Australia in 2009. Simon managed to beat Tomas Berdych, a dark horse for many following his failed semi-final at the Aussie Open, in the 4th round, also seeing off his countryman Gael Monfils and less tough competition in the form of Nicolas Almagro and Blaz Kavcic in the process. Yet his quarter-final task remains an unenviable one, and Simon sits at an Outright Index spread of 10.5-12.5 with 80/1 fixed odds.

Despite being the oldest player left in the draw (even if it is only by 3 years), Federer has been his usual magical self at this year’s tournament. He has only dropped one set, against Sam Groth in the 4th round, and has looked dominant most of the time, giving a masterclass in how the game should be played. This tournament is an important one for Federer; looking near his best, the Swiss maestro is after a record 8th Wimbledon title and would become the most successful man at the tournament, be it before or during the Open Era, in doing so. The spectre of Murray in the semis leaves Federer with a slightly lower Outright Index spread of 29.5-32.5, and fixed odds of 15/4, but he goes into his quarter comfortably at a Federer/Simon Match Supremacy spread of 15-18.



The other half of the tournament contains equally stiff competition, with Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic comprising the third quarter-final. A genuine wobble against South African upstart Kevin Anderson in the 4th round looked like it might see the first exit for a no. 1 seed in the 4th round for 14 years; instead, a delayed 5th set saw Djokovic, if not at his best, at least in the mind-set of a champion, holding off a blistering service game from Anderson to secure a place in the quarter-finals. Yet before that point Djokovic had breezed through the competition, with straight set wins in all 3 rounds, and the big Serb will be hoping his 4th round was a blip, not a growing trend. Aiming for back-to-back championships, Djokovic remains atop both the Outright Index, at a spread of 40.5-43.5, and the fixed odds list, at a price of 11/10.

Djokovic’s opponent, Marin Cilic, will be looking to build on his growing success in the past few years, with the peak being his victory at the 2014 US Open. Yet so far Cilic has only completed his first round match against Hiroki Moriya in straight sets; the Croatian was stretched to 5 sets in both his 2nd and 3rd round matches, whilst was taken to 4 sets in his 4th against wild card Denis Kudla. Cilic will be hoping that Djokovic will be tired and shaken following the near-upset of his 2-day 4th round match; however, our Spreadex traders feel like hope is all he has, and Cilic sits at an Outright Index spread of 10.5-13.5 with fixed odds of 50/1. Obviously this leaves the current champion as favourite, leading to a Djokovic/Cilic Match Supremacy spread of 17-20.

The final quarter-final will perhaps be the toughest to call, as Stan Wawrinka takes on Richard Gasquet. Despite a fairly late start to the successful era of his career, Wawrinka could be the one to watch at this year’s tournament, especially since he has already beaten his potential semi-final opponent Djokovic in the final of this year’s French Open. The quarter-finals remain Wawrinka’s end point at Wimbledon, but coming off of 4 straight set wins in a row the Federer’s fellow Swiss countryman will fancy his chances of beating his own personal best finish. Our traders agree, and have Wawrinka at an Outright Index spread of 20.5-23.5 with fixed odds of 9/1.

Richard Gasquet has had a similarly strong tournament so far; straight set wins against Luke Saville, Kenny de Schepper and impressively Grigor Dimitrov led to a 4th round match against fan favourite, and umpire’s nightmare, Nick Kyrgios. An entertaining match, overshadowed by the Australian’s on court antics, saw Gasquet hold off a 3rd and 4th set surge by Krygrios to reach his first finals match at Wimbledon since his 2007 semi-final. However, Wawrinka’s pre-Wimbledon form leaves Gasquet at a lower Outright Index spread of 13.5-16.5 with 40/1 fixed odds. Yet Gasquet has been nothing to sniff at this tournament, and whilst the Swiss player has the advantage at a Wawrinka/Gasquet Match Supremacy spread of 6-9, the tightness of this spread reflects the Frenchman’s quality.