Wimbledon Betting – Can Fed Survive Raonic Serve?

No. 6 Milos Raonic (+144) vs No. 3 Roger Federer (-164)

After coming back from two sets down against No. 9 Marin Cilic, Roger Federer’s quest for a record eighth Wimbledon title remains alive and well. Will the marathon match take its toll on the aging Swiss star? We’ll find out when he meets the big-serving Milos Raonic on Friday in the semifinals at the All England Club (9:00 AM Eastern).

Federer cruised through a few overmatched opponents in the early rounds but never looked comfortable against Cilic, and that doesn’t bode well going forward, since Cilic and Raonic play similar games. The Croatian leaned on his big serve to take a two-sets-to-none lead in the quarters.

“He had one chance, he took it, and next thing you know you’re down two sets to love. … On the return, he was reading my serve. … I couldn’t read his serve,” Federer said in an interview with the BBC.

The 34-year-old Federer kept battling, though, and used his veteran savvy to save three match points in the fourth set. He eventually wore down the No. 9 seed and ended up winning 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.

Now in his 11th semifinal, Federer is a big favorite over Raonic as far as the sportsbooks are concerned. That’s not without reason; Fed has a 9-2 career record against the Canadian. But the 6’5 Raonic is on the rise and will put up a bigger fight than he did in the 2014 semis, when he lost in straight sets.

Raonic was perfect until the Round of 16, but then had to play his own five-set affair, coming from two sets down against No. 11 David Goffin. That was the first time in his career he’s come back from a two-set deficit. Raonic went on to beat Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, dropping just his third set of the tournament.

With Novak Djokovic out of the picture, Federer has to realize this is his last best chance to win a slam. Raonic will put up a good fight, but I like Federer to move onto the finals, even at a short price.

Pick: Federer (-164). 

(Photo Credit: Justin Smith (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/])