Dominant start encouraging for Murray backers at Wimbledon

With a first-round tie against former world number three Nikolay Davydenko dubbed ‘tricky,’ Andy Murray will have pleased those backing him to win Wimbledon at 10/1 via a straight sets victory.

The 25-year-old Scot is bidding to better his previous-best efforts at All England Club, where the furthest he has gone is the semi-final, which he has reached for the past three years running.

Murray dispelled any lingering fears of a back injury when emphatically disposing of Davydenko 6-1, 6-1, 6-4, and the fact that his all-conquering display lasted a mere one hour 34 minutes suggests that Great Britain’s number one means business at the tournament.

Often said to begin Grand Slams tentatively, no such accusations could be levelled at Murray on this occasion, as he stormed to a triumph that was never in doubt, against the Russian still ranked 47th in the world.

Great contrast was evident between the early stages of Murray’s outing, and that of second-favourite for Wimbledon Rafael Nadal meanwhile, which will also hearten patriotic punters.

In an opposite showing to the Scot, Nadal appeared nervous when going 4-0 down during his first set yesterday.

The clay specialist eventually went on to record a straight sets triumph, but his preference for other surfaces looks as though it could hinder his chances in the latter stages at SW19, if he performs as he did in that shaky initial set.

As Murray’s potential route to the final would likely involve a semi-final meeting with Nadal, these aforementioned worries for the Spaniard are points of encouragement for the British hope.

Before that though, Murray will likely face Croatian Ivo Karlovic in a second round tie, after the latter’s first round match was abandoned with him two sets ahead of Dudi Sela.

Either player would be no pushover, but the scorching performance Murray turned in on Tuesday seems to indicate that he will have no trouble advancing again, no matter which player is his opponent.

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