Sports Blog 19/01/2015: Tournament Preview – Australian Open 2015, 19th January to 1st February 2015

The Australian Open kicked off today, and here at Spreadex we are providing Outright Index spread betting alongside a host of other options, including in-play betting for a selection of the big games.

Our Outright index offers you the chance to bet on a player’s final position, not just whether they win the tournament like our outright fixed odds betting prices. The winner receives 60 points, with the runner up getting 40, a losing semi-finalist 20, a losing quarter-finalist 10, going out in the fourth round gets you 5 points, whilst anything else gets you zero.

With that in mind, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic is odds on favourite to win the tournament at 5/6 fixed odds betting and an outright spread of 39.5-42.5; he plays Aljaz Bedene tomorrow. Whilst Djokovic only reached the quarter finals last year, he is the current Wimbledon champion, and won the ATP World Tour in November after Roger Federer pulled out of the final due to an injury, regaining his place at the top of the world rankings in the process. Talking of Federer, the world No. 2 is conveniently second favourite to win at 5/1 and 22-25. He has already breezed through the first round in straight sets against Yen-Hsun Lu, and after winning his first Davis Cup with Switzerland will be looking to at least match his semi-final finish from last year.

The usual suspects take our 3rd and 4th spots here at Spreadex, with world No. 3 and French Open champion Rafael Nadal at 7/1 and 18-21, already through to round 2 after beating Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets; ranked 6th in the world, Andy Murray is at 10/1 to win and an outright index spread of 14.5-17.5 despite a mixed year that saw no Grand Slam titles but victories in the Vienna, Valencia and Shenzhen Opens. Murray also progressed to the second round unobstructed, beating India’s Yuki Bhambri in straight sets. Elsewhere, last year’s Aussie Open winner and world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka is at 12/1 and faces Marcel Ilhan tomorrow, whilst world No. 5 Kei Nishikori is 14/1 after reaching his first Grand Slam final at the US Open 2014.



The Women’s Singles looks set to be just as tense, with both world No. 1 Serena Williams and world No. 2 Maria Sharapova at an outright index spread of 23-26; Williams is the slight favourite over Sharapova at 5/2 compared to 7/2 respectively. The younger Williams sister got to the fourth round last year as well as winning the US Open and plays van Uytvanck tomorrow; Sharapova also exited the Aussie Open 2014 in the fourth round whilst winning the French Open, and is already through to round 2 after beating Petra Martic over 2 sets.

After reaching her first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 2014 and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, world No. 3 Simona Halep, already through to the second round, is 5/1 to win the tournament and an outright spread of 20-23. And despite exiting the Australian Open in the first round last year, Petra Kvitova, world No. 4, is at 9/1 to win after winning Wimbledon 2014 and faces Hogenkamp tomorrow. Here at Spreadex we also have Eugene Bouchard, world No. 7 and Wimbledon runner up, at 12/1, whilst world No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki is at 14/1. Venus Williams had a disappointing 2014, and despite being in our top 10 for the Outright Index, is 33/1 to win the tournament after going out in the first round last year; she will be hoping to avoid the fates of 5th ranked Ana Ivanoic and 9th ranked Angelique Kerber, who both crashed out in the first round, when she faces Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor tomorrow.

Finally, make sure to play our online tennis game http://www.crosscourtchallenge.co.uk/ ahead of the games tomorrow!