Overall
After five events going back to the US Open and 98 recommendations, the return at the end of the season stands at 21% and level £10 stakes would have yielded a profit of £201.70.
US Open – Men
Roger Federer was our outright pick for the tournament having been handed a straightforward draw as he looked for a sixth consecutive US Open title and while the Swiss Maestro ultimately fell short in the final he would have made an excellent trading opportunity for followers of our Final preview where we recommended laying Federer off at 1.27 pre-match. Our most profitable outright call on the tournament was a split-stake recommendation of the finalists being Federer/Del Potro at 8.5 and Federer/Murray at 3.5 as it became 11 of 12 US Open finalists in the past six seasons that have reached the final at either the Cincinnati Masters or Rogers Cup.
However, the daily match calls had a poor first week before recovering in the second and this left a small 4% loss overall from 24 calls on the men’s tournament (both individual matches and outrights).
US Open – Women
Serena Williams was our top pick as she looked for her third Grand Slam of 2009 and with so many seeds falling by the wayside she looked to have it all sown up. However, Kim Clijsters knocked her out in the semis in controversial fashion as she recorded only her second win over Serena in nine attempts and went on to become only the second of 13 winners since 1997 not to have claimed a hard-court title during the season.
Clijsters’ success was not a total surprise as we had called her to win her quarter at 3.75 pre-tournament, with Venus Williams seemingly out of form. Our other successful outright call came from our mid-tournament update where we highlighted Caroline Wozniacki’s chances before the fourth round at 15.0 to win each-way with one-third odds for reaching the final and the Dane duly delivered.
Our daily match previews were also highly rewarding across the fortnight as they resulted in a 25% profit from 28 recommendations, while the overall profit was 26% from 33 calls.
ATP Shanghai Masters
Bettorlogic’s form from the second week at Flushing Meadows carried through to the next Masters event on the men’s tour where our tournament preview recommended Juan Martin Del Potro and Nikolay Davydenko for the title. While Del Potro retired in his opening match, Davydenko surged to the title to reward followers at 21.0. In doing so, Davydenko became the 12th winner of the Masters event at this time of year in the past 19 years not to have claimed a Masters title earlier that season, while also being the seventh winner in the last eight years to have won a hard-court title since Wimbledon.
Our match previews also yielded a healthy 22% profit from 11 recommendations as the tournaments 13 calls produced an overall profit of 126%.
ATP Paris Masters
The Paris Masters was a disappointing event for us as both pre-tournament recommendations fell early with Roger Federer suffering a shock defeat in his opening match and Davydenko knocked out in his second match. Novak Djokovic went on to take the title and become the seventh different winner of this event in as many years.
The match previews also made a loss during the week as the overall loss ended at 31% from 15 calls. However, Rafael Nadal’s struggles during the week highlighted a trend since his return from injury whereby he has lost almost all of his matches against top 10 players, with all his defeats coming in straight sets. This produced one winning call for Djokovic to beat Nadal in straight sets at 3.25 but it was to become more useful at the Tour Finals in London.
ATP World Tour Finals
Rafael Nadal’s poor form and record of having lost his previous meeting with all his group opponents led us to recommend that he would fail to qualify for the semis (at 2.0) while Federer was once again our tip for the title as he looked for a record equalling fifth Masters Cup. However, while Federer made the semis as expected he then surprisingly fell to Davydenko despite having won their 12 previous meetings. However, Federer’s semi-final appearance did mean that the top-seed has made the semis in 13 of the last 15 years while Davydenko’s triumph made him the 15th winner of this event in the last 19 years to have won an event after the US Open and before the Tour Finals.
Our policy of recommending Nadal’s opponents to win in straight sets ensured a profitable week although a few near misses meant the week was not quite as rewarding as it might have been. Overall there was a 7% profit from a total of 13 recommendations.