US Open: Plenty of value in Dimitrov to trouble Murray
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Andy Murray swept through the first week of the US Open with ease, dropping just one set along the way. But a fourth round clash with Grigor Dimitrov represents the first tricky hurdle in what will hopefully be another successful tournament for the Scot.
Dimitrov may have slid down the rankings a tad, dropping from world number eight to 24 in the last two years, but there’s still plenty of ability in the Bulgarian, and he’s already beaten Murray this year.
The 25-year-old ended Murray’s Miami Open hopes in March, and there seems little value in backing the Olympic champion to win at 1/8, with his opponent 5/1.
In their last seven meetings, Dimitrov has either taken a set or forced Murray into a tie-break, and so backing the Scot in set betting seems the way to go here.
Murray to reach the quarter-finals by three sets to one is 3/1, while a five-set thriller going the 29-year-old’s way is 13/2.
It’s 3/4 that Murray takes it in straight sets, but there’s little evidence to support that coming through.
More likely is Dimitrov grabbing the opener at 14/5.
Though Murray was untroubled in his first two rounds, both Lukas Rosol and Marcel Granollers took more games off the Scot than in latter sets, while Paolo Lorenzi took the three-time Slam champion into a first-set tie-break.
It simply wouldn’t be right if the British number one didn’t endure a dramatic comeback after losing the first set.
If you fancy a Murray classic this evening, the 11/2 on Scotland’s finest to lose the first set and win the match might well be the ace in your pack.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
