The race to the Barclay’s Tour Championship tournament in London is heating up. There really are about 6 guys fighting for the last 3 spots and these last two Masters tournaments will play a huge role in determining which 8 men battle it out in the year end Championships. The Shanghai Masters has some very important points up for grabs, which adds some excitement to an already very big tournament on the tour.
Most of the first round matches have already been played and we will be finishing up the first round and getting into the second round matches tomorrow.
ATP Shangai Winner Odds
Here are the odds for the tournament winner from online sportsbook PinnacleSports.com. I personally find that Pinnacle offers the best odds for tennis betting, but it’s still important to line shop as outlined on the Picks.org homepage in great detail.
- Novak Djokovic 1.869
- Rafa Nadal 7.19
- Roger Federer 8.29
- Andy Murray 14.93
- Stan Wawrinka 20.45
- Milos Raonic 20.45
- Kei Nishikori 20.45
- Tomas Berdych 20.45
- Grigor Dimitrov 23.22
After these 9 players the odds jump significantly to David Ferrer with odds of 67.47. It would be very surprising if one of these 9 favourites did not win the tournament.
Free Pick
Djokovic is coming off an amazing tournament in Beijing last week, which saw him easily win the ATP 500 tournament. Djokovic never lost a set on his way to winning the tournament and actually beat Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-2 in the final. He also crushed Dimitrov (6-2, 6-4) and Murray (6-3, 6-4) on his way to the title. Needless to say he is at the top of his game and he even went as far as to say that last week’s was the best final of his career.
All of that said, I would steer clear of Djokovic at these odds because I don’t think he has a better than 50% shot at winning this tournament. Federer is on his half of the draw and these two always have very difficult matches that can often go either way. If he did beat Feds he would still have a huge challenge in the finals with a likely battle with either Nadal or Raonic.
I actually like Nadal at odds of 7.19. He did lose last week to Klizan in the quarterfinals, but he will have shaken off some of the rust in time for this tourney. Combine this with a fairly easy draw and you have to like Nadal’s chances. I think Rafa’s most difficult opponent on his way to the finals is Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals, but he has had his way with Milos in the past. In the semi’s it’s likely either Wawrinka or Berdych, both of who shouldn’t pose too big of a problem to Nadal at this time.
Berdych keeps getting fairly easy draws in tournaments so he is getting wins even though he isn’t playing overly well in the past few months. I would steer clear of him at 20.45 odds.
I actually like Raonic at odds of 20.45. If he can get past Nadal (who could slip up early) then he would be the favourite against either Wawrinka or Berdych in the semi-finals. After that anything is possible in the finals.
Dimitrov and Nishikori are on the same half of the draw as Federer and Djokovic, so I would stay away from them.
Plays: Rafael Nadal 7.19 and Milos Raonic 20.45 @ PinnacleSports.com.
Milos Raonic • Novak Djokovic • Rafael Nadal