US Open: Murray and Del Potro to down Nishikori and Wawrinka
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Andy Murray really stepped it up a gear in his fourth round win over Grigor Dimitrov, and the Scot will be plenty confident of ousting Kei Nishikori to land a spot in yet another Slam semi-final.
Murray waltzed past Dimitrov in three untroubled sets, and now faces a man who he holds a 7-1 head-to-head record over.
It’s pretty unsurprising then that the three-time Slam winner is 1/6 favourite to beat Nishikori, with the Japanese ace the 4/1 outsider to win the second scheduled match on Arthur Ashe court.
If you discount the pair’s Davis Cup meeting earlier this year, and a retirement for Nishikori in Brisbane three years ago, Murray has really dominated the six completed matches.
The 29-year-old has won five times, and more impressively all of those victories have come in straight sets.
With that in mind, it’s likely the 20/21 on Murray to win 3-0 today will find plenty of support.
Nishikori has battled hard to get this far, but we haven’t seen a virtuoso performance from the 2014 Flushing Meadows finalist.
The 26-year-old dropped sets in each of his first three rounds, including to two players ranked outside the top 90.
A straight sets win over Ivo Karlovic last time out hinted at an improvement, but even still, Nishikori required a tie-break against the 37-year-old.
So Murray should be cruising through, and according to form and statistics, he should face Juan Martin del Potro in the semis.
The man with the devastatingly wonderful forehand takes on Stan Wawrinka in what should be a barnstorming conclusion to the action on Day 10.
The Argentine has delicately planned his return to top-level competition this year, and it’s culminating in a very strong conclusion.
Claiming a silver medal at the Olympics, Del Potro has shown he is very close to the quality which saw him defeat Roger Federer to win the US Open in 2009.
Two-time Slam champion Wawrinka has been inconsistent this season, and a four-set loss to Del Potro at Wimbledon goes a long way to explaining the Argentine’s 8/13 favourite odds here.
The 27-year-old is in even better shape than when he beat the Swiss ace at SW19, and with a 4-2 head-to-head record, it would be a surprise if he lost tonight to the 5/4 shot.
Wawrinka has required a tie-break in every match so far, and was taken to a gruelling fifth-set decider by Dan Evans in round three.
Del Potro, in contrast, is yet to drop a set and got a lucky break last time out when Dominic Thiem withdrew, so if he didn’t already have form and history on his side, the popular Argentine should be much fresher too.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
