Murray and Djokovic start strongly as top seeds in China Open
Published:Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray cruised through to the second round of the China Open with straight set wins.
Djokovic beat Mao-Xin Gong but Murray’s 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Paul Henri-Mathieu was particularly impressive as he looks to secure some form ahead of the ATP’s tour finale in London in November.
Murray is the second seed behind Djokovic in a field that doesn’t include Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer but still holds seven of the world’s top ten players.
Robin Soderling faces Tommy Robredo at 12.35pm today and he is a 2/9 favourite to win the match.
Soderling holds a 4-1 head-to-head record over his German opponent and beat Robredo in this tournament 6-3, 6-3 last year.
The two times the two have met on a hard court, Soderling has won in straight sets and he should complete a comfortable victory today.
Nikolay Davydenko is up against Florian Mayer at 2.00pm and the tournaments fourth seed will be confident of victory despite having lost on the only occasion these two have met in 2007.
It’s always a psychological boost for a lower seed player when they know they’ve beaten their opponent in the past and Mayer might fancy his chances despite his 9/4 to win the match price.
Davydenko hasn’t been in brilliant form over the past few months after suffering defeats to lower-ranked players in Jeremy Chardy, Richard Gasquet and Igor Andreev in his past four tournaments and there is a possibility of an upset.
However Davydenko has the class to defeat the German and is 1/3 to do so.
Ladbrokes are offering in-play betting on the China Open and it may be worth holding off on Davydenko if he is to start slowly against Mayer.
Giles Simon is in action tomorrow morning and is 1/4 to beat Michael Berrer. See the full China Open tennis in-running betting odds market here.
