Betting.Betfair

I've been writing this preview of the side markets for the last six men's grand-slam finals, going back to the French Open in 2011, and, when Ferrer went up a set against Djokovic in their semi-final, instead of doing the sensible thing and taking some profits on my outright bet, I instead trawled back through those finals to see how successful these side-market bets have been. Well, 23 bets have been recommended, 11 have won, and they've returned a profit of 24.26 points to recommended stakes. Here's hoping the success continues. [u]Most Aces[/u] To date, head-to-head, Murray has served more on 12 occasions (86 per cent), to Djokovic's one (7 per cent), with one match ending in a tie. All this tells you that Murray should be 1.17 to serve most aces, with Djokovic at 14.0. It's fairly...

[u]Novak Djokovic (1) 1.44 v Roger Federer (3) 3.25 13:00 Centre Court[/u] [i]H-to-H 12-14[/i] This really ought to be the Wimbledon final, it's the reigning champion and world No.1 against the six-time winner and arguably the greatest player of all time... don't miss it. These two have met 26 times and their head to head record shows Federer with a slight advantage, but recently it's Djokovic who has been on top. Not only has the Serb won six of their last seven encounters, but he has also won four of their last five Grand Slam matches and he hasn't even given Federer a set in their two previous meetings this year. The form points towards a Djokovic win but it's unlikely to bother Federer. The Swiss maestro has supreme confidence in his grass court game and although he certainly...

Tuesday at the All England Club didn't go to plan, thanks to an impressive return to form from Serena Williams. Petra Kvitova was beaten by the best performance that I've seen in a long time from Williams that was several levels above anything that she had previously produced this fortnight. And Marin Cilic's error-strewn effort did nothing to lighten my mood as he went down in straight sets to Andy Murray. So, it's on to men's quarter finals day at Wimbledon and Murray takes on David Ferrer, who blew away the weak challenge of Juan Martin Del Potro for the loss of just eight games. That was a surprising result to say the least, but it was a fine display from Ferrer - his best on grass and one of Delpo's worst, most lacklustre efforts that I've seen from him for a long time. But...

[u]Roger Federer (2) v Mikhail Youzhny (26) 13:00 Centre Court[/u] [i]H-to-H 14-0[/i] The head-to-head stands at 14-0 in favour of Federer, make it 15-0 after today. They met last month on grass in Germany where Federer won 6-1, 6-4 to preserve his unbeaten record against Youzhny. Even though Youzhny has had a good Wimbledon it is very difficult to see him extending Federer. He had his tournament wobble against Benneteau, but can win easily to conserve his energy for a likely semi-final against Djokovic [b]Selection: Federer[/b] [u]Novak Djokovic (1) v Florian Mayer (31) 13:00 Court 1[/u] [i]H-to-H 2-0[/i] It's very hard to see beyond Djokovic. Mayer is the lowest ranked seed to make it through to the quarter-finals, though there has been a renaissance in his career as he hits thirty....

[u]Viktor Troicki v Juan Monaco (15) 11:30 No. 2 Court[/u] [i]H-to-H 2-1[/i] Monaco must be suffering from altitude sickness as he's never even won a match at Wimbledon before this year, let alone got to round three. In fact the fourth round is the furthest he's got in any Grand Slam, French & US. Will he add Wimbledon to that list? This time last year Troicki was seeded 13 at Wimbledon, buoyed by his part in Serbia's Davis Cup triumph. He has since slid down the rankings, but has survived two five-setters to get to round three and will overturn the rankings to progress. [b]Selection: Troicki[/b] [u]Alejandro Falla v Denis Istomin 11:30 Court 18[/u] [i]H-to-H 1-1[/i] Falla has had two really good wins against Isner and Mahut, both over five sets, which must have give him confidence...