Sports Blog 26/05/2015: Tournament Preview – French Open, 24th May to 7th June 2015

This year’s French Open got underway on Sunday, and Spreadex is offering a host of spreads and fixed odds throughout the tournament.

One of the most interesting Spreadex offers is the Outright Index 60-40-20-10-5-0 spread. In this spread the winner receives 60 points, the runner up 40 points, whilst the losing semi-finalists receive 20; a losing quarter finalists earns 10 points, with the losing last 16 players receiving 5. Everyone else gets a big fat zero.

Over in Men’s Singles, there is far and away a front runner for the title: world no. 1, current Wimbledon champion, winner of this year’s Australian open and last year’s French Open runner-up, Novak Djokovic. The imposing Serb has an Outright Index spread of 37-40, and is odds on favourite to win the tournament at 5/6. His first round match starts on Tuesday morning against the Finnish Jarkko Nieminen, himself at an Outright Index spread of 0-0.5, and the world no. 1 has a heavy advantage at a Djokovic/Nieminen Match Supremacy spread of 22.5-24.5.



Following Djokovic are the usual suspects, with Roger Federer at an Outright Index spread of 18-21 and at 10/1 to win the tournament, whilst Rafael Nadal is at 17-20 with fixed odds of 4/1. Federer, who faltered in the fourth round of the French Open last year, has had a mixed 2015. He saw his 1000th career win and saw victory in the Istanbul Open, but went out in the Australian Open in the third round; he faces Marcel Granollers in the second round. Nadal, on the other hand, won last year’s tournament, in the process drawing level with Pete Sampras for most Grand Slam titles, behind only Federer. Yet his 2015 has been just as mixed, winning the Argentina Open but exiting in the quarter finals in Australia. He faces Quentin Halys on Tuesday, and is at a Nadal/Halys Match Supremacy spread of 23-25.

Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori are both at an Outright Index spread of 16.5-19.5, with the former at fixed odds of 17/2 and the latter at 11/1. Murray is already through to the second round after dispatching with Argentina’s Facundo Arguello, and will face either Sousa or Pospisil in the next round. Nishikori had a similar easy first round, seeing off Paul-Henri Mathieu to set up a second round game against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci. Rounding out Spreadex’s Men’s Singles Top 8 is Stan Wawrinka, at an Outright Index spread of 13-16, with Tomas Berdych at 10-13 and David Ferrer at 9.5-11.5.

Over in the Women’s Singles, Serena Williams, Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova all incredibly close at the top of the Outright Index spread. Williams is the current world no. 1, winner of this season’s Australian Open and Miami Open, and whilst she crumbled in the second round of last year’s French Open, sits atop the Outright Index with a spread of 23.5-26.5 and a fixed odds price of 12/5. Williams’ first round match is against Andrea Hlavackova, and the US giant has the advantage of a Match Supremacy Williams/Hlavackova spread of 17-19.



Yet Williams faces a tough test from Halep. Halep is at an Outright Index spread of 21.5-24.5 and fixed odds of 4/1; the young Romanian was last year’s runner up in the French Open, her first ever Grand Slam final, and despite only reaching the quarter final of the Australian Open this season is 3rd in the world after winning both the Dubai Tennis Championship and the Indian Wells Masters. Victory against the unseeded Evgeniya Rodina in the first round has led Halep to a second round match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

The woman that beat Halep in last year’s French Open, Maria Sharapova, is not far behind, at an Outright Index spread of 20-23 with fixed odds of 15/4. World no. 2, Sharapova has been fairly strong since winning the French Open, a fourth round exit from Wimbledon being countered by an unsuccessful final against Williams in the Aussie Open. An easy win over Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi sees Sharapova against Vitalia Diatchenko in the second round.

The rest of the Women’s Singles Top 8 lie a fair way below the top 3; Kvitova is at an Outright Index spread of 10.5-13.5 with fixed odds of 9/1, the same fixed odds as Victoria Azarenka, who is at an Outright spread of 8-10. Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro are also both at an Outright Index spread of 8-10, with fixed odds of 28/1 and 18/1 respectively. Rounding out the top 8 is Caroline Wozniacki, at an Outright Index spread of 6.5-8.5 with a fixed odds price of 20/1.

Make sure to check Spreadex throughout the tournament for updated Outright Index spreads alongside a host of other fixed odds and spread betting opportunities.