Federer, Murray Favored in Tennis Odds to Reach Wimbledon Final

Federer, Murray Favored in Tennis Odds to Reach Wimbledon Final

Written by on July 7, 2016

The men’s semifinals on the grass courts of Wimbledon are set for Friday as No. 2 seed Andy Murray, the Scot who is the obvious fan favorite, takes on Tomas Berdych on one side and No. 3 Roger Federer, who is looking for his record eighth Wimbledon singles title, battles Milos Raonic on the other. Federer and Murray are each favored on betting lines to reach Sunday’s final at the All England Club.

Federer, Murray Favored in Tennis Odds to Reach Wimbledon Final

The chances of both men winning this tournament got a huge, huge boost when world No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic was upset by Sam Querrey last week. Federer was on Djokovic’s side of the draw and thus would have had to face him in a potential semifinal. Federer looked dead in the water on Wednesday’s quarterfinal down two sets to Marin Cilic. And Federer was down love-40 while serving at 3-all in the third. Federer escaped that pickle. But not long after, Federer faced a match point at 5-4 in the fourth. Two games later, Cilic again was a point from winning. And 10 minutes later, Cilic held a third match point. Federer fought them all off in winning 6-7 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3 to reach his 11th semifinal at the All England Club. It was just a stunning comeback considering that Federer hasn’t won a Grand Slam trophy since 2012. He also has dealt with knee surgery and a bad back this season, the first since 2000 that he arrived at Wimbledon without a title. The 35-year-old is trying to become the oldest man to win a major since Ken Rosewall was 37 at the 1972 Australian Open. On Friday, Federer faces No. 6 Raonic, a 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 winner against No. 28 Querrey, the man who surprised Djokovic in the third round. Raonic hit a modest 13 aces, but he made serve-and-volley approaches on nearly half his opportunities (42-of-105). That’s a crazy amount in this era of baseline walloping. Federer leads all-time against the Canadian Raonic 9-2. They played once this year, in an Australian Open hard-court warm-up in Brisbane and Raonic won 6-4, 6-4. The two last played on grass at Wimbledon in the 2014 semifinals and Federer won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Federer is -170 on betting lines to win the match with Raonic at +140. Murray is looking for his second career Wimbledon title. On Wednesday, he was extended to a fifth set by No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before winning 7-6 (10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1. Murray’s hopes were seriously threatened when he faced break point early in the fifth set but the 2013 champion dug deep to prevail in three hours and 53 minutes. Tsonga, 31, had beaten the Scot just once in the last eight years and never on grass. This year, Murray is likely playing the best tennis of his career, better than 2012, when he broke through at the Olympics then at the U.S. Open, better than in 2013, when he won Wimbledon with a bad back. Murray now takes on the 10th seed Berdych. Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, beat France’s Lucas Pouille 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to set up a 15th meeting with Murray — the Czech trails 8-6. Murray is a heavy -650 favorite on betting line with Berdych at +450.

Expert Betting Prediction

Murray and Federer met in the 2013 Wimbledon final and I believe they do again.