British tennis player Andy Murray has become online bookmakers’ favourite to win the season-ending ATP Masters Cup in Shanghai after defeating Frenchman Gilles Simon yesterday to make it into the semi-finals.
The Dunblane-born player triumphed at the ATP Masters Series events in Cinncinnatti and Madrid earlier this year and could see out the 2008 season with an additional $625,000 in his pocket for winning.
Murray is listed at odds of 8/5 with ToteSport.com and shortening while Coral.co.uk has the 21-year-old Scot at 13/8. Numerous other sites including Sportingbet.com, Ladbrokes.com, BlueSq.com, PaddyPower.com SkyBet.com and 888Sport.com have Murray at 7/4 followed by StanJames.com, VictorChandler.com and Betfair.com at 15/8.
In second place is Switzerland’s Roger Federer, who meets Murray today in a match of relatively no significance, with the 27-year-old five-time Wimbledon champ listed at odds of 9/4 by Ladbrokes.com, StanJames.com, BetDirect.com and Bet365.com. VictorChandler.com, PaddyPower.com and ToteSport.com are offering 12/5 and shortening while BlueSq.com, SkyBet.com, Boylesports.com, BetFred.com and WillHill.com are going with 5/2.
The Masters Cup is a tournament played at the end of each season involving the top eight players in the men's tennis world rankings competing in a round-robin format in order to determine the final two contestants.
After triumphing in four sets yesterday over Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic is third favourite at odds of 5/2 with Bet365.com, BetFred.com, VictorChandler.com, BlueSq.com, BetDirect.com, SkyBet.com, StanJames.com and 888Sport.com. Slightly longer odds of 13/5 are available from PaddyPower.com while ToteSport.com is offering the 21-year-old at 11/4 followed by the 100/30 from Sportingbet.com.
