Murray Favourite For Aussie Open

It’s finally happened! Both Nadal and Federer are out and Murray is still in a major tennis open and right now he’s the favourite to take the Australian Open 2011. Digging as deep as he’s ever had to, Andy Murray brought all of his fighting spirit as he battled to a four-set win over David Ferrer to reach a second successive Australian Open final.

Seeded fifth, he won 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to set up a final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday 30th January 2011. Despite an error-strewn performance against Spain’s Ferrer, his undoubted talent and class saw him come from the brink of a two-set deficit, leaving him just one win away from his first Grand Slam title.

But winning the title in Australia will be no easy task. Novak Djokovic claimed his second successive Grand Slam semi-final win over reigning champion Roger Federer to also reach the final of the Open. The Serbian, who beat Federer at the US Open in September, saw off the 16-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-4 in the first semi-final in Melbourne.

Having won his semi in, what is considered to be, easier fashion, Djokovic is odds on favourite with some of the bookies, but the are split, with some favouring Murray. If you want to get in on the action then it all goes live from Australia BBC One, Red Button & online from 0815 GMT on Sunday.

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Murray To Win Australian Open 2011

The 2011 tennis circuit is well and truly under way and the best in the business are grafting it out down under in a bid to win the first big open of 2011. Still in with a very good shot at the title is Britain’s own Andy Murray who was clinical in beating plucky Ukrainian Illya Marchenko to reach the third round of the Australian Open today.

Fifth seed Murray is clearly on form and dispensed with the opposition in three quick sets, coming through with 6-1 6-3 6-3 and will now face 32nd seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the next round.

Despite this latest win, he still lags behind Nadal and Federer in the bookies odds. It’s still early days in the tournament, with many great players still left in the running so as the Australian Open progresses adn he goes further, the odds will shorten so if you fancy him to reign supreme then get your money on while the odds are still reasonable!

Rafael Nadal was at his scintillating best as he swept aside qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-2 6-1 6-1 in his Australian Open second-round match, putting him one round behind Murray. Federer hasn’t been so lucky and faced very tough opposition from Gilles Simon who took him to a five set game. Ultimately Federer won out and wrapped it up 6-2 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-3.

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Murray looking to end the season in style

You can’t deny that Andy Murray has endured a difficult season. However, having triumphed over Robin Soderling in front of a home crowd at the O2 Arena in London, Murray is now hoping to win his first ATP World Tour Finals trophy as he looks to hide the fact that he has still failed to win a Grand Slam event in his career to date.

With Murray disappointingly failing to progress through to the semi-final stages of the competition in London last season, he along with those who regularly place tennis bets will realise all too well that a solid start is not enough to ensure that he reaches the latter stages. In fact, the Scot will know precisely what is needed now and that’s a victory over rival Roger Federer in his next match at the event.

Despite winning the Australian Open earlier this year, Federer has been accused by some tennis online betting pundits of struggling in general this season, and has failed to reach the lofty heights that his many fans have come to expect of him. However, with one Grand Slam victory representing one more taste of success than Murray has achieved this year, any talk of a slump certainly needs to be taken with a hefty pinch of salt.

Having said that, with Murray having performed well in the majority of his previous battles against Federer, he certainly knows precisely what it takes to be successful against the Swiss maestro.

If Murray can remember the winning formula that has served him so well in the past and use a victory against Federer as a launch pad from which to win the ATP World Tour Finals event and then a first Grand Slam early next season, the Scot will have finally lived up to the potential we all know he holds.

This said, though, if Murray finds himself beaten, and down and out once again, he’ll know that the tag of underachiever will continue to haunt him wherever he goes.

           Related Posts2011 ATP World Tour season preview2010 season review – Novak DjokovicTaking stock in StockholmInjuries the key to Jankovic’s hopesNew number one here to stayTags: Add a Comment

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ATP Tennis -Andy Murray defeats Roger Federer in Shanghai Masters

by Stephen Lars on Oct.18, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Things are not looking too well for the great Roger Federer. And his recent debacle at the Shanghai seems to be the latest prove. Andy Murray went on to defeat the Federer Express in straight sets this Sunday. Murray who has been quite effective against a player that gives such a hassle to most every other player in the professional circuit, managed to defeat Federer by 6-3, 6-2.

Andy Murray not only won the tournament without dropping a set, but he also broke Federer’s serve four times and managed to fight back six break points while outperforming Federer from the serve, with six aces against Federer’s three. In their personal record, Murray has now won 8 of their 13 meetings, making him quite efficient against the player who for so many weeks dominated the ATP rankings.

And truth be said, it is quite uncertain what happened with Federer during the final match. Don’t get us wrong here, Murray played an amazing match and he deserved to win the tournament. But it is hard to understand how his performance dropped the way it did because, let’s face it, the Federer that played and defeated Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals was not the same Federer who went to on to play the final match.

Murray has had somewhat of an irregular season filled with ups and downs. First, he defeated Federer in August, where he won his first tournament of the year. But then he failed to make it pass the third round of the following four tournaments, including his early exit in the third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows. It has been a long season in the ATP tennis. We’ll keep you updated at it comes to and exciting end in the following month.

Murray Bid For US Open Title

Named as fourth seed in this years US Open, Andy Murray is going to have his work cut out for him if he wants to seriously challenge for the title. The 23-year-old, who was beaten by Roger Federer in last year’s final at Flushing Meadows, goes into the tournament after a terrific Toronto Masters where he retained the title.

But out to beat them all is No.1 seed Rafael Nadal who looks set to win the only Grand Slam title to have eluded him. Novak Djokovic is seeded third, with Sweden’s Robin Soderling ranked fifth while US hopes are resting on ninth seed Andy Roddick, while John Isner, Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey are also seeded.

The top seeds for the Open are: 1 Rafael Nadal, 2 Roger Federer, 3 Novak Djokovic, 4 Andy Murray, 5 Robin Soderling, 6 Nikolay Davydenko, 7 Tomas Berdych, 8 Fernando Verdasco, 9 Andy Roddick, 10 David Ferrer, 11 Marin Cilic, 12 Mikhail Youzhny, 13 Jurgen Melzer, 14 Nicolas Almagro, 15 Ivan Ljubicic, 16 Marcos Baghdatis, 17 Gael Monfils, 18 John Isner, 19 Mardy Fish and 20 Sam Querrey.

Nadal may be gunning for the title but the bookies certainly don’t see it that way with favourite Federer nearly odds on to win it! The US Open begins in Flushing Meadows, New York on August 30th 2010.

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ATP – Andy Murray defeats Roger Federer in Rogers Cup final

by Stephen Lars on Aug.19, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Andy Murray had a great weekend. Not only did he defeat Roger Federer in the final of the Rogers Cup at Toronto, but he defeated both Federer and Rafa Nadal while defending the tournament he won last year.

Murray has had two previous chances at a Grand Slam final: the US Open in 2008, and the Australian Open earlier this season. On both ocassions, he fell slightly short to Roger Federer. So this one feels quite good for the Scottish player. Andy Murray was able to put down Roger Federer in two straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

It seemed as if Roger Federer was just unable to pick up the pace and somehow find his rhythm. This was the Federer Express’ first tournament since was eliminated on the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Just for the record, he had been the most dominant player in the recent years to play in the All English Club. But truth be said, there had been somewhat of a drop in his performance ever since he won the Australian Open, his 16th grand slam, early in the season. This was also Federer’s first game since joining his new coach, Paul Annacone.

Anyhow, it was not a bad result at all for Federer, who still did not manage to win, but certainly showed an improvement over the previous months. Andy Murray, on the other hand, had one heck of a tournament. He has always excelled in the hard courts, as his game is most efficient on fast courts. Murray kept playing from the base with his usual, reserved and cautious game. He is not a risk taker. Lets be frank, Murray is quite a defensive player. He relies mostly on his good counter punch, ad his very solid groundstroke.

Despite Federer’s efforts to brake, Murray was simply too quick, to good at anticipating his opponents shots that it was clear that he would not allow Federer to close in on the 1 point gap he held out even when the Swiss was pushing him the hardest. Then there was also a whole new deal with the weather.

The game was constantly suspended for rain delays. As a matter of fact, from the beginning to the end, the game was stopped by the officials at least three different times. Roger Federer has said that Murray deserved to win the Rogers Cup. He commented on the very little chances that Murray gave him throughout the day. Still he also made a remark concerning the rain and the weather.

In the press conference Federer said: “The rain delays completely kind of shut it down for me to get any kind of rhythm.” Later about the continuity of the match he said the following: