Murray’s form makes Scot sure fire pick for Rotterdam Open

The highest ranking player and no.1 seed, Andy Murray will go into the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in supreme confidence despite his recent loss to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open and we are inclined to follow suit.

That defeat, and the nature of the Scot’s capitulation against his Serbian rival, was disappointing for all to see but Murray nevertheless looks great value at 2/1 with Ladbrokes to win the Rotterdam Open.

For starters with the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic not involved, Murray is the only one of “big four” of the men’s game to be competing in Holland.

Of the top eight seeds, in fact, only one is likely to cause the Scot anything approaching trouble – Grigor Dimitrov – and even his status as a major thorn in the side of Murray must be called into question given the way he swatted the Bulgarian aside with a 3-1 victory in Melbourne.

Britain’s finest also comes out on top in his head-to-head record with Stanislas Wawrinka and beat both Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych in their most recent on-court meetings.

A trio of title wins on the ATP Tour at the back end of last year also showcased Murray’s fine record on the circuit of late with the Scot claiming the Shenzhen Open, Vienna Open and Valencia Open in the space of less than a month from September to October 2014.

With that momentum carried through to the Australian Open final appearance, current form would suggest it’s high time to back Murray in Holland.

First up is a match with Nicolas Mahut with the 33-year-old best remembered for his record-breaking match with John Isner at Wimbledon a few years ago.

No one is expecting an extended stay on court this time around, with the 27-year-old Brit 1/12 to win the match and 1/4 to do so in straight sets at Ladbrokes, having triumphed 2-0 in four of their previous five meetings.

But for those seeking real value with a bet on the Scot it has to be to win the Rotterdam Open and you can forget backing him each way – there’s no need to go Dutch on this one.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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