Murray and Ward to be disappointed in Queens semi finals
Published:Hopes may be high that the AEGON Championships at Queens could be readying for a first all-British final since 1931, but the better tennis bet may be that both Andy Murray and James Ward lose their last-four encounters.
Murray will be the first Brit to attempt to reach the final and faces in-form Andy Roddick, while world number 216 Ward will then face the biggest match of his career when stepping on court with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
World number four Murray will certainly fancy his chances of winning the tournament now that Tsonga dumped out top-seed Rafael Nadal in the quarter finals, but he will have his hands full with Roddick.
The American is a four-time winner at Queens and has also progressed on the last two occasions that he has met Murray on grass courts, with the most recent also being in a semi final, at Wimbledon in 2009.
Meanwhile, Roddick has also impressed at Queens this year, most notably when breezing past Fernando Verdasco in straight sets in the quarter finals.
Murray will be well rested after Marin Cilic withdrew with injury ahead of their quarter final and is 4/7 to reach a second final in three years at Queens.
However, with the game close to call, the value in the tennis betting may lie with Roddick, who is 11/8 to claim victory.
Wildcard Ward has done remarkably well to reach this stage, having already dumped out Stanislas Wawrinka and defending champion Sam Querrey en route to the semi finals.
He is 13/2 to take another major scalp and beat Tsonga.
But with Tsonga high on confidence after beating Nadal, it is hard to bet against the Frenchman reaching the final at 1/12.
Patriotic punters believing that Murray will face Ward in the final can take advantage of odds of close to 12/1 on the double of both Brits winning their respective matches.
