Davydenko becomes first major casualty of the Shanghai Masters
Published:Andy Murray made it safely through to the third round of the Shanghai Masters after overcoming Chinese wildcard Yan Bai 6-2. 6-2.
He now faces Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and is the 1/7 favourite to progress to the fourth round.
Chardy has face Murray on two occasions, as recently as August in the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, but has never beaten the Scot and is priced at 4/1.
However the Frenchman did force Murray the distance on that occasion and Murray is 7/2 to win in three sets on Thursday.
But the tie of the third round pits Richard Gasquet against Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic won the China Open last week without breaking a sweat, but faces a difficult task in overcoming Gasquet who is impressing on his return from a drugs ban and is 10/3 to beat the Serb.
The two haven’t played each other since 2007, but Djokovic leads the head-to-head ties 3-1 and is the 1/5 favourite to beat the Frenchman.
Gasquet exited the US Open at the hands of fellow Frenchman and last week’s Japan Open runner-up Gael Monfils, but Gasquet beat Monfils 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to set-up the third-round clash with Djokovic.
The two could be out on court for a long time, and Djokovic is 3/1 to win in three sets while Gasquet is 13/2 to win in three sets.
World number one Rafael Nadal is also in action on Thursday morning when he takes on German Jurgen Melzer.
Melzer has been handed the task of stopping the Spaniard, and at 6/1 to win, it seems unlikely that he will even get close.
Nadal has beaten Melzer on the three occasions the two have met and is 1/12 to win, and 1/4 to win in straight sets.
David Ferrer can repeat his China open victory over Robin Soderling and is 5/4 to do so. See the full Shanghai Masters betting odds market here.
