Sports Blog 10/07/2015: Wimbledon Preview – Men’s Singles Semi-Finals, Friday 10th July 2015

With Serena Williams setting up a finale against Garbine Muguruza on Saturday, it is the turn of the men to discover who will reach the final 2 on Sunday.

Of course, Spreadex has a veritable 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 sees 2014 Wimbledon champion, and world no. 1, Novak Djokovic take on the Grand Slam-less Richard Gasquet. At an Outright Index spread of 47.5-50.5 and odds on fixed odds of 4/6, Djokovic is the clear favourite going into the semi-final. He is aiming for his 2nd Grand Slam title of the calendar year in a 2015 that saw him win the Australian Open before frustratingly losing his 3rd French Open final a few months after.

It is looking like the champion’s wobble against Kevin Anderson in the 4th round, where there were times when it genuinely looked like Djokovic was going to exit the competition, was a blip, with the big Serb surging to a quick and easy win over Marin Cilic in straight sets in the quarter final. That means Djokovic has only dropped 2 sets so far in the tournament, and even though those 2 sets saw the champion struggled to deal with Anderson’s aggressive serve, it still shows that any negative chatter over his form following that 4th round match was slightly overstated.



In contrast to Djokovic’s quarter-final, Gasquet’s was a difficult and tense affair. Quickly winning the first set 6-4, the Frenchman then dropped the next 2 sets to current French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in an equally swift fashion. Gasquet fought back in the fourth, setting up a match deciding fifth set. Compared to the relative hastiness of the other, the decider went on for 83 minutes, before Gasquet finally got the upper hand, ending the set at 11-9 and entering his first Wimbledon semi-final since 2007, and only his 3rd ever Grand Slam final four appearance, in the process.

Yet in 13 matches the Serbian has only lost to the Frenchman once, all the way back in 2007; in fact, Djokovic beat Gasquet in straight sets on his way to the final in the Roland Garros. And despite the fact that Gasquet beat the man that beat Djokovic in the final in France, he still finds himself at a lower Outright Index spread of 21-24 with a fixed odds price of 25/1. It also, obviously, leaves the champion with the advantage going into the semi-final, at a Djokovic/Gasquet Match Supremacy spread betting quote of 18-21.

The other semi-final promises to be a tighter affair, and one that will test the loyalties of the British public, as the universally adored Roger Federer faces the home-grown champ Andy Murray. An Australian Open final and a French Open semi-final isn’t a bad season, but Murray won’t want a year like 2014 when he went without a Grand Slam title. He managed to avoid the spectre of Nadal as the Spaniard crashed out before Murray could meet him in the quarter-finals, leaving the Scot with the distinctly easier task of facing the unseeded Vasek Pospisil.

Murray ended the Canadian’s Wimbledon dream in straight sets, as it should be given the gulf in ranking, without looking too troubled in the process. He is now aiming for his 3rd Gram Slam title, and his first in 2 years, and sits at a strong Outright Index spread of 34-37 with a fixed odds price of 11/4. Yet he hasn’t been fully tested at Wimbledon this year, with a string of opponents that fall short of the standard in the other parts of the draw.



That will all change when he faces Federer this afternoon. The Swiss maestro is chasing a record-breaking 8th Wimbledon title, something that would make him the most successful men’s player at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, be it in the Open Era or not. Wimbledon 2015 has not seen a let up in the beauty of Federer’s game, with some of his best, and trickiest, shots coming at this year’s tournament. Things were no different in the quarter-finals, where Federer put in an assured display against Gilles Simon. Federer dispatched of the Frenchman in a clean, efficient and typically classy fashion, securing yet another Grand Slam semi-final in his long and storied career.

Yet he still has a slightly lower Outright Index than Murray, at 31.5-34.5, with fixed odds of 7/2. Despite the fact that Murray has only beaten Federer once at a Grand Slam tournament, in the 2013 Australian Open semi-final, our Spreadex traders still expect the Scot to rise to the occasion, however, leaving him with the narrow advantage at a Murray/Federer Match Supremacy spread betting quote of 0-3.

Check out Spreadex throughout the semi-finals for all the latest in-play spreads and fixed odds!