We recently updated our odds and betting advice for the ongoing Australian Open here and here. But after a bunch of high-profile upsets in the first and second rounds, it’s time to have a fresh look.
The last few days have seen some of the tournament favorites leave the court furious and flabbergasted, which is terrible for them but great for both the remaining players and opportunistic bettors.
So where does that leave us? Here are the updated odds.
2017 Australian Open Odds:
Odds to win men’s title
Andy Murray: 5/6
Milos Raonic: 6/1
Stan Wawrinka: 13/2
Rafael Nadal: 9/1
Roger Federer: 18/1
In our previous articles, we wondered whether Murray could finally overcome Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Well, that’s not a concern anymore. Djokovic lost his second-round match to 117th-ranked Denis Istomin, who gained entry to the tournament as the Asia-Pacific wildcard. Novak led after three sets, but the Uzbek player clinched the fourth and fifth sets and defeated the current world no. 2, ending his chances of a record-breaking seventh Aussie Open title.
That leaves the draw wide open for Murray, who has reached the finals an astonishing five times but has never managed to seal the deal. Of those five finals, four of them ended in losses to Djokovic.
Djok’s early exit is a huge boost for Murray, and the odds reflect that. It’s also given no. 3 seed Milos Raonic and no. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka a nice bump. The early exit of Marin Čilić has also given living legends Rafael Nadal (no. 9 seed) and Roger Federer (no. 17 seed) a nice improvement as well.
Odds to win women’s title
Serena Williams: 2/1
Angelique Kerber: 7/2
Karolina Pliskova: 4/1
Garbine Muguruza: 10/1
Johanna Konta: 10/1
The women’s draw, which actually appeared more wide open at the outset of the tournament, is playing out in favor of the chalk. A showdown between no. 1 Angelique Kerber and no. 2 Serena Williams is looking more and more inevitable after the no. 3 and 4 seeds, Agnieszka Radwańska and Simona Halep, crashed out early.
Radwańska suffered a second-round defeat to 34-year-old Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, losing in straight sets. Halep exited in the first round after losing in straight sets to 49th-ranked Shelby Rogers.
Williams and Kerber faced off in the final of the 2016 Australian Open. Kerber, then ranked no. 7, overcame the odds to clinch the win. Both the fans and the bookmakers are anticipating a rematch.
Photo credit: “Novak Djokovic” by Carine 06, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.