Tennis
2009-06-29 - Andy Murray vs Stanislas Wawrinka
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Tennis: England, Wimbledon Men
Monday 29th June 2009 - Start 16:00
Andy Murray
Andy Murray has only fanned the fires of expectation from the British public after a very impressive first week at Wimbledon where he seemed to get stronger and stronger as the matches progressed. This is a tough match with a solid player, but Murray will be confident that his journey to the final will continue.
Murray was exceptional again in the last round, this time against Victor Troicki. He has only dropped 38 games so far in the tournament, 7 more than Federer but the performance levels can be shown by the following. He lost 19 games in round 1, 10 games in round 2 and 9 games in round 3.
The most vital part of Murray's game that has made people sit up and take notice is the form on his own serve. He served 65% first serves and won 76% of the points behind the serve. Troicki was only given 1 break point opportunity in the match but that was quickly saved with an ace.
Murray returned well, as would be expected, and won 42% of the points behind Troicki's solid serve. He made 8 break point chances and then took his opportunities by breaking 4 times.
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka has made his way through the tournament without much fanfare and many people would have expected Marat Safin to have been taking Centre Court instead of the Swiss Number 2. He has got through the tournament for the loss of just 1 set.
He does not have a strong background of playing on this surface but did manage to reach this stage last season before falling to Marat Safin in 4 sets.
Wawrinka did not have a straight forward match in the last round against Jesse Levine but came through in 4 sets. He won 67% of the points behind his serve, but allowed 5 break point chances of which 3 were taken by the American.
He won 42% of the points against the Levine serve which allowed him to move forward in the tournament. 23 break point chances were created but only 6 chances were taken.
Head to Head
This is the 8th meeting between the 2 players and it is currently 4-3 in favour of Andy Murray.
Murray has won 4 of the last 5 meetings between the pair and this will be their first meeting on the grass courts.
This is the 2nd time they will be meeting at Grand Slam level. Their last meeting took place at the US Open last September, when Andy Murray was a comfortable 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 winner.
Prediction
Andy Murray is on fine form and my only concern is that he may peak too early before he faces the challenge of Roger Federer. I have no doubts that he can make the Semi Final and I would make him a strong favourite to reach the Final off the back of last weeks performances.
Stanislas Wawrinka is the Swiss Number 2 behind Roger Federer but his better surfaces are the hard courts and the clay courts as his movement is not quite secure on this surface. He has a great backhand, but he will have to serve very well to give himself a chance.
I dont see Murray having too many probles with Wawrinka in this match. Form and confidence is all behind Murray who is also serving better than the Swiss Number 2 and returning better. I think he will have more chances to break serve and is more likely to take his chances than Wawrinka.
I see Murray winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
The Pick :
Andy Murray
