Djokovic – Murray

The most anticipated quarterfinal clash of the US Open will see Novak Djokovic taking on Andy Murray. It could hardly get any better than this at this stage of the tournament.

Nole had a really poor campaign on the US hard courts, losing early both in Cincinnati and Toronto. Obviously winning Wimbledon and getting married had an impact, but here at the US Open Djokovic looks as good as he has always been. The Serbian has yet to lose a set so far and did not even play a tiebreak – indeed, he did not meet top caliber opposition but Kohlschreiber was no scrub in the last round and Nolde took him appart. No doubt that Djokovic is the man to beat right now at Flushing Meadows, he`s sharp as ever, very good movement, good serving.

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Murray struggled in the early rounds with Haase and Kuznetsov, losing a set to each player, but went on to record a surprisingly solid 3-0 win over Tsonga. Andy had a tough year recovering after that back surgery and did not even play a final in 2014, losing each time to the top players – but right now it seems his finding some of his rhythm back, despite the fact that, it has to be said, Tsonga played a poor match against him. Bottom line Andy is playing good tennis, but it`s not his best level and apparently he still needs some time. A telling statistic is that Murray did not defeat a single Top 10 player this season, actually his last top 10 win was at Wimbledon 2013 (!!!) against today`s opponent, Djokovic.

The H2H statistics are in favor of Nole who leads 12-8, including winning 4 of the last 5 meetings and the only one this year, 7-5 6-3 at Miami. On hard courts it`s 10-6 for the Serbian, but Murray won the only US Open match between the two – the 2012 final in 5 sets. All in all it`s an evenly matched encounter in terms of H2H, no particular matchup analysis to be made, as both play rather similar brands of tennis.

Murray is looking a little better than in the last few months but I doubt he will be able to sustain a serious challenge for Djokovic over 5 sets of tennis. The Brit is not quite at his best and you can`t come up against Nole not playing your best tennis and hoping to win. It should be a nice match to watch but eventually Djokovic will outplay Murray for a 3 or 4 sets win. The odds are not spectacular on Djokovic to win or on any kind of handicaps, but I will pick safety first here. My tip is Djokovic to win with a -1,5 set handicap. Prediction: Novak Djokovic – Andy Murray 6-3 7-6 7-6.

Pick: Djokovic (-1,5 set handicap)
Odds: 1.54 @ Sbobet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 4.86
Event date: 4 September