Andy Murray will next be up against Kei Nishikori in the French Open 2018. Murray’s performances have been getting better throughout the tournament and he saw off young Russian Karen Khachanov in straight sets in the quarter finals on Monday. After having gotten the better of Juan Martin del Potro in the previous round in straight sets, Murray was even more clinical in his fourth round showdown against Khachanov.
That was Murray’s 650th win at the Tour level in his career and now he faces up to Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who is the eighth seed. Murray wasn’t heavily backed in the pre-tournament running because of the difficult year he has had with injury and illness. After a slow start in his opening two games, he has started to really up his game and with him avoiding the other big guns in the field, namely Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic who are on the other side of the draw, Murray can march on.
Andy Murray v Kei Nishikori French Open odds
Andy Murray 2/7, Kei Nishikori 11/4
Murray was losing finalist at last year’s French Open and suddenly following his last two wins, he looks a strong contender to get back there. This will be the 29th grand slam quarter final for Murray now and with him just playing percentages so well and delivering some powerful service games. Murray has claimed 75% of points on his second serve which is a massive tally and with his form going into the tournament, that’s pretty staggering.
What is important too is that Murray has been saving energy with his straight-set victories, and his quarter final opponent Nishikori, had to come from a set down to beat Fernando Verdasco in his fourth round match. He did win the fourth set though in just 22 minutes as he blanked his opponent. Seven of the top eight seeds in the draw are currently still in the running.
Murray holds an 8-2 head to head record from previous meetings with Nishikori and their most recent meeting was in the round robin of the ATP Finals at the back end of last year, which Murray won. Murray has won five of the last six meetings and this will be their first meeting at the French Open. They have played on clay, just once at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid back in 2015 which Murray won. Six of Murray’s eight wins over Nishikori have been in straight sets.
Murray to win 3-0 in set betting is a quote of 5/4 with Be365 while a 3-1 win for him is a price of 11/4. In the games handicap betting market at Bet365 Andy Murray to cover -5.5 in the match fetches a price of 10/11.
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