Sports Blog 09/07/2015: Wimbledon Preview – Women’s Singles Semi-Finals, Thursday 8th July 2015

It is semi-final time in the women’s draw at Wimbledon, with many of the usual suspects, and a significant new face, involved.

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 and the losing semi-finalists get 20 apiece.



First up is the non-former champions’ side of the draw, with Garbine Murguruza set to face Agnieszka Radwankska. At only 21 years old, Murguruza is about to play her first Grand Slam semi-final, a rather big leap from exiting in the 1st round at Wimbledon last year. Her gradual progression in 2015, from the 4th round in Australia to a quarter-final in France to a semi-final at Wimbledon is made all the more astonishing by the difficulty of her draw at this year’s tournament.

A confident win over Timea Bacsinszky in the quarter-finals was preceded by a surprising, if self-assured, victory over former world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the 4th round and a tense battle against 2012 semi-finalist Angelique Kerber. Every step of the way the young Spaniard has confounded expectations, and will be looking to use her current momentum to propel herself to her first ever Grand Slam final, leaving her with an Outright Index spread of 31-34 with fixed odds to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish of 7/1.



Murguruza’s opponent is slightly more experienced in these kinds of high pressure games. Radwanska was a Wimbledon finalist in 2012, where she lost to Serena Williams in 3 sets, whilst in 2013 she lost her semi-final to eventual runner-up Sabine Lisicki. Until this point her 2015 has been somewhat of a disappointment, with a 4th round exit at the hands of Venus Williams in the Australian Open joined by a dismal 1st round defeat to Annika Beck in the French Open.

Wimbledon has drawn better form out of the Polish star. She had a tough quarter-final against the up and coming American Madison Keys; yet before then Radwanska hadn’t dropped a set, looking assured against fairly easy, and largely unseeded, competition. She isn’t far behind Murguruza on Spreadex’s Outright Index at 29.5-32.5, and has fixed odds of 8/1. However, the strength the young Spaniard has shown against tougher competition leaves Radwanska marginally on the back foot at a Murguruza/Radwanska Match Supremacy spread betting quote of 0-3.

If the first quarter final is between players chasing their first Grand Slam title, then the second contains veritable old hands, as Serena Williams takes on Maria Sharapova. Williams looks in the form of her life. She is aiming for her 6th Wimbledon title, something that would put her tantalisingly close to becoming the first women to complete a Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988 after winning the Australian and French Opens. Victory at Wimbledon would leave the US Open as the final challenge, a Grand Slam the younger Williams sister has won for the past 3 years in a row.

But that is all hypothetical. Back in reality, Williams has looked impressive at Wimbledon; after a confident win over her sister Venus in the 4th round, Williams faced Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals. It was the furthest point Azarenka had reached at Wimbledon since her 2012 semi-final, and initially things were going her way, as the Belarussian took the first set off of Williams in a convincing fashion. But Williams fought back, securing her 9th Wimbledon semi-final, and leaving her atop the Outright Index at 49-51 and odds on favourite at 2/5 in the process.



Yet her opponent is no slouch either. At a low Outright Index spread of 25-27 but a firm fixed odds price of 6/1, Maria Sharapova is aiming for her first Wimbledon final since 2011. The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club was the home of her first ever Grand Slam victory, back in 2004 where she incidentally beat Serena Williams to claim the Dish, but since then Sharapova has failed to recapture the title, the closest being a loss to Petra Kvitova in aforementioned 2011 final.

The Russian has had an arguably easier draw than Williams, playing largely unseeded or wild card opponents, with no real test like Venus Williams or Azarenka on the way. She faced the unseeded Coco Vandeweghe in the quarter-finals, and despite losing the 2nd set Sharapova looked strong; however, she has already lost to Williams in a Grand Slam this season, with the American besting Sharapova in 2 sets in the Aussie Open final. In fact, Sharapova is looking to overturn a 16 match losing streak against Williams, unsurprisingly leaving the in-form American at a Williams/Sharapova Match Supremacy spread betting quote of 11.5-14.5.

Check out Spreadex for a host of in-play opportunities throughout both matches and make sure to check back tomorrow for a preview of the men’s semi-finals!