Sports Blog 30/08/2016: Tennis Preview – US Open, Sunday 29th August to Sunday 11th September 2016

Can Andy Murray make 2016 his most successful year by adding a US Open win to his Wimbledon and Olympic victories?

Men’s Singles
With the top half of the draw seeing precious few upsets in the 1st round, with only Richard Gasquet suffering a scalping at the hands of Britain’s Kyle Edmund, the usual crowd are lurking at the top of Spreadex’s Outright Index. Despite injury worries Novak Djokovic has the best spread at 33-36 (where the winner gets 60 points, the runner-up 40, the losing semi-finalists 20, the losing quarter-finalists 10, the losing last-16ers 5 and everyone else 0), with Rafa Nadal at 12-15, Milos Raonic at 12.5-15.5 and Marin Cilic at 10-13.



Of course hot on the heels of Djokovic is Andy Murray, who heads into his 1st round tie against the Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol at an Outright Index spread of 32.5-33.5 with a fixed odds price of 7/4. The Scot is in the midst of his most successful year as a professional, a feat he would cement with a title win in New York. The 2-time Olympic gold medallist shouldn’t have too many issues in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with our traders offering a Murray/Rosol Match Supremacy spread of 21.5-23.5.

Beyond Murray the bottom half of the draw is full of intrigue. Juan Martin del Potro, shock silver medallist in Rio after knocking out both Djokovic and Nadal, is one of the tournament’s wild cards, and is expected to beat fellow Argentine Diego Schwartzman at a Match Supremacy spread of 17-20. Stan Wawrinka, meanwhile, heads into his opening match against Fernando Verdasco at an Outright Index spread of 8-11, while Kei Nishikori, who was a finalist 2 years ago, is at 10-13 ahead of his tie against Benjamin Becker (no relation, sadly, to Boris).

Women’s Singles
Like in the Men’s competition there haven’t been any surprises in the 1st round of the Women’s US Open so far. The bottom half of the draw has already seen top seeds like Madison Keys (at an Outright Index spread of 13-16), Garbine Muguruza (as 12-15) and Angelique Kerber (at 16.5-19.5) reach the 2nd round, with Britain’s Johanna Konta also qualifying.



The main event, however, is still to come, with Serena Williams set to meet Ekaterina Makarova at midnight GMT. Williams, who is the clear favourite at an Outright Index spread of 28.5-31.5 alongside fixed odds of 6/4, is having an off year by her indomitable standards. A win at Wimbledon followed frustrating final defeats in Australia and France, though any upswing was nipped in the bud after a 1st and 3rd round exit in the Olympic doubles and singles tournaments respectively. One would imagine Williams won’t have any real trouble with her Russian opponent, however, Spreadex offering a Williams/Makarova Match Supremacy spread of 12-15.

While Williams will likely dominate the headlines, there is plenty of talent on display in the top half of the US open draw. Simona Halep, who is still chasing her 1st Grand Slam title, has an Outright Index spread of 12-15 and the second best fixed odds price of 13/2, ahead of her match against Kirsten Flipkens. Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska is then at 9-12, and faces Jessica Pegula in the 1st round, while Karolina Pliskova is at 8-10 and takes on wildcard Sofia Kenin.