Milos Raonic is the first Canadian to ever make the men’s final at a grand slam tournament, but he finds himself sitting as a big underdog on the betting lines at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for his Wimbledon clash with the favoured Andy Murray on Sunday.
Raonic came back from being down two sets to one to defeat Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in their Wimbledon semifinal matchup on Friday, winning as a +165 odds underdog (wager $100 to win $165) in that match. Federer had gone off as the -200 favourite (wager $200 to win $100) on the Wimbledon betting lines.
Murray, meanwhile, was pegged as a huge -900 favourite in his semifinal match with Tomas Berdych on Friday, and cruised to a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 straight-sets victory. That pushed Murray into the final to face Raonic, with the Brit looking for his second Wimbledon championship as a -400 favourite at the sportsbooks. Raonic is listed as the underdog at +300 for Sunday.
Raonic will be looking to fight off fatigue on Sunday; along with going five sets against Federer in the semifinals he also needed four sets to get past Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals and five sets to dispatch David Goffin in the Round of 16. Murray got a break with his three-set win over Berdych after he’d gone the distance against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters.
Overall Murray is 6-3 in his career against Raonic, winning each of their last five head-to-head matchups including the final of the AEGON Championship in London just last month. Murray also outlasted Raonic with a five-set victory in the semifinals of the Australian Open this year.
Sunday marks Raonic’s first trip to the final of a grand slam tournament; along with his semifinal appearance in Australia earlier this year he had also advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2014. For his career Raonic was 51-21 (71%) in matches at grand slam events heading into this tournament.
Murray has won two grand slam events (2013 Wimbledon and 2012 U.S. Open), while losing in the final eight times including both the Australian Open and the French Open this year. Murray was 165-39 (81%) in matches at grand slam events at the outset of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the women’s final at Wimbledon takes place on Saturday, with Serena Williams the heavy -400 betting favourite against Angelique Kerber at the sportsbooks. Williams has won six Wimbledon titles in her career, but she lost in the final in both Australia and France earlier this season.