Murray a non-mover in the US Open odds despite his first round exit

Kevin Anderson was the scourge of many punters yesterday after dumping out Andy Murray in the first round of the Rogers Cup.

Murray was the 1/12 favourite to progress yesterday as he started his search for a hat-trick of Rogers Cup titles, but the Scot was never in the game as his South African opponent dominated from start to finish.

It was Murray’s third opening-round exit of the year on the hard courts of the United States and Murray will have to turn around his form before the US Open starts on August 29th.

The Scot remains available at 6/1 to win the US Open with Novak Djokovic (6/4), Rafael Nadal (3/1) and Roger Federer (5/1) all ahead of them, and while the hard courts are widely regarded as Murray’s favoured surface, his form makes him tough to back for the Major.

Having reached the final of the Australian Open in January Murray then went on a run of three tournaments in which he failed to negotiate the opening round and was grateful for the clay court season to appear.

Semi-final appearances in the French Open and Wimbledon added to his final appearance in Australia but the Scot remains unable to break the barrier between he and a first Major win.

“Sometimes you can make mistakes with your preparation, but I’ve done pretty similar stuff to what I’ve always done coming in here,” said Murray.

“It’s just a really bad day. It’s happened to me a couple times this year and also last year, as well.

All three players ahead of Murray in the rankings look better bets for the final Major of the year and Murray has just the one more tournament – in Cincinnati next week – to turn around his form.

Meanwhile Novak Djokovic starts his Roger’s Cup challenge today and the Serb is 1/20 to beat Nikolay Davydenko and 6/4 to win the tournament.