Murray Favourite Against Australian Hero Kyrgios

After becoming the first home grown talent to reach the quarter-final of the Australian Open in ten years, Nick Kyrgios will have to turn over Andy Murray in an effort to make a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time tomorrow (08:15).

Brit hope Murray, on the other hand, is aiming to be the first man in history to pick up the title down under following three second place finishes. A number of bookmakers including bet365, make the Dunblaine born star 9/2 to earn himself his third Grand Slam title of his career and right the wrong of three runner-up spots.

The two players have met only once previously, with the 27-year-old Murray getting the better of his teenage counterpart in less than an hour. This match was played out at the Toronto Masters of 2014 and saw the Brit secure a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the six foot four teenager.

As a result of this easy win and the Scot`s position as one of the market leaders for the tournament title, Murray is 1/7 with bet365 to rule supreme over Kyrgios once again. A second straight set victory is also available at 10/11 with the same bookmaker.

Murray has previously picked up straight set wins in rounds one to three, only having to play a fourth when dropping the second set against Grigor Dimitrov in round four of the competition. The set won by the Bulgarian went down to a tie-breaker with the match finishing 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Those looking for an upset can back the world number 53 at 6/1 with sportingbet. Unlike his opponent, Kyrgios has only won in straight sets once during this tournament, seeing off Malek Naziri 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 in round three. As a result, the Canberra-born star can be backed at 11/1 to record a 3-2 victory, 12/1 to take the tie 3-1 and 16/1 to beat Murray without dropping a set (all bet365).

What`s more, the controversial teenager, known for his rants at spectators and ball boys, has come back from being a set to love down twice, putting Federico Delbonis of Argentina to the sword in round one (6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3) prior to coming from two down to defeat Italian Andreas Seppi 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 8-6 in the fourth tournament stage.

In light of this, the youngster is 12/1 (Betvictor, sportingbet) to lose the first set and win against Murray.

It is also possible to place a bet on the outcome of this opening encounter, the most likely (according to the bookmakers) being a Murray win of either six games to three or six games to four, both are 7/2 with bet365.

This same bookmaker has the same price on their being a first set tie-break. The two players have fought out a total of seven tie breaks in the previous tournament stages. Murray won both of his two against Dimitrov and Yuki Bhambri respectively whilst his rival took four of the five he played. Kyrgios has played an average of just over 46 games per match so far this tournament, the obvious outlier being his easy victory over Naziri in the third stage (29 games). Should you think that the match will last at least 37 games again tomorrow, Bet365 are offering a price of 5/4. Six-to-five with the same bookmaker says that under 32 games will be undertaken.

In support of this is the fact that Murray has only played an average of around 31 games in each of the four opening rounds of this year`s Australian Open with his four set match against Dimitrov being the big outlier (44 games).

Go To bet365

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26/01/2015     © Frixo 2024