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Wimbledon Betting – Murray, Raonic Battle for Title

Sascha Paruk

by Sascha Paruk in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

No. 2 Andy Murray (-375) vs. No. 6 Milos Raonic (+300)

For just the second time in the last 13 years, and for the first time since 2010, the Wimbledon final won’t feature Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic. Instead, Andy Murray will look for his second title at the All England Club while Milos Raonic tries to break through with his first ever Grand Slam triumph. Murray and Raonic will square off on Center Court on Sunday (July 10, 9:00 AM Eastern).

Murray has had a relatively easy route to the finals. The highest seed he had to face was No. 10 Tomas Berdych in the semis. The Briton easily dispatched of Berdych in straight sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-3). He was pushed in his quarterfinal match with No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, needing five sets to dispatch of the Frenchman, but hasn’t dropped a set otherwise.

Raonic has had a decidedly tougher time, playing five set affairs with both No. 11 David Goffin in the Round of 16 and No. 3 Federer in the semis. He also needed four sets to get by No. 28 Sam Querrey in the quarters. The big-serving Canadian, who’s struggled with knee injuries in his career, spent nearly 3.5 hours on court in the semifinals, while Murray was back in the locker room resting in under two.

Potential fatigue is just one of the reasons that Murray comes in as the heavy favorite. Hailing from Glasgow, Murray will have the London crowd firmly in his corner, just as he did when he won the 2013 title. He’s also dominated the head to head against Raonic, winning six of nine career meetings including five straight.

The most recent matchup came in the buildup to Wimbledon at the Aegon Championship, another grass-court tournament. Raonic was able to take the first set, but Murray rolled from there, winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Raonic’s game is perfectly tailored to the grass of Wimbledon; he has a massive serve, soft touch at the net, and a big forehand that can end rallies early. But Murray is one of the best returners in the game. Raonic’s serve is great, but not unreturnable. When Murray does manage to put Raonic’s serve in play, he’ll have a distinct advantage in terms of ground strokes.

There isn’t a lot of value on Murray at -375 since Raonic has a puncher’s chance. But when you look at the recent history and couple it with all the tennis Raonic has had to play over the last week, Murray still jumps as the better value.

Pick: Murray (-375). 


Photo credit: Carine06 (Andy Murray) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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