Murray favourite for first showing since Australian Open defeat

Andy Murray’s first appearance on a tennis court since the Australian Open final is an intriguing one, and punters may want to take the Scot on when he faces Marco Baghdatis in the opening round of the ABN AMRO tournament.

At 1/5 to beat Baghdatis, Murray is a very short price considering the Cypriot holds a 2-1 head-to-head record over Murray, which leaves Baghdatis temptingly priced at 10/3.

Murray’s defeat in the Australian Open was arguably the most difficult of his career and we’re yet to see just how much Novak Djokovic’s demolition job has taken out of the world number five.

Murray was visibly upset at the end of the Australian Open final, and if he comes into this match-up in a fragile state of mind, the Cypriot will punish him and that’s why Baghdatis holds all the value.

Question marks have always hung over Andy Murray’s temperament and backing Baghdatis in the set betting to win by either a 2-0 or 2-1 scoreline (both available at 13/2) is the pick of the betting market.

David Ferrer vs Jarkko Nieminen

Andy Murray’s semi-final opponent in Melbourne is the short-priced favourite to beat Jarkko Nieminen on Tuesday and Ferrer should have too much class for Nieminen and is 2/7 to beat the Fin.

Ferrer ended Nieminen’s Australian Open challenge in the first round just over three weeks ago, however Nieminem did take a set off the Spaniard and the value is in backing Ferrer to win 2-1 at 3/1.

Florian Mayer vs Feliciano Lopez

Mayer’s recent win over Lopez back in October hands the edge to the German and Mayer is 8/15 to beat Lopez on Tuesday.

Mayer was a semi-finalist at last week’s PBZ Zagreb Indoors tournament and the German will be high in confidence for a tie it’s difficult to see him losing.

A £25 treble on Baghatis, Ferrer and Mayer winning would return £213.50. New customers can sign up here for a free bet worth £25.