The stress was obvious Monday, when an agitated Murray yelled and berated himself repeatedly and had trouble dealing with Bernard Tomic’s unusual style before advancing to the quarterfinals with a scrappy 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) win.
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To add another layer of trickiness to this betting heat the weather looks dismal for the next few days, which presumably means this will be played under the roof when it starts at around 4am United Kingdom time on Wednesday. If this match-up was on clay, Ferrer would be worth backing here but the British player’s imposing record at the Australian Open should see him secure victory. The Glasgow, Scotland native has admitted the distractions of his wife Kim Sears being home in England preparing to give birth to the couple’s first child have affected him, but Murray’s play on the court would not indicate that. There’s a lot of guys that seem to be playing a little bit longer now. He fights so hard in every single match.
He’s performed best at Roland Garros, notably reaching the final in 2013, but there’s something about the conditions in Melbourne this season.
Raonic lost to Djokovic in the quarterfinals here a year ago.
Four-time champion Federer capped the afternoon session with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 6 Tomas Berdych, reaching his 12th Australian Open semifinal and his 39th in a Grand Slam.
Monfils delighted the crowd with his acrobatic game, including a full-stretch dive onto the hard court that resulted in him needing an injury timeout for treatment on his right hand.
Two nights after her dramatic win over Ivanovic, Madison Keys followed her out of the tournament. Things then went with serve until Ferrer won the set 6-4 in 41 minutes.
I don’t fancy Ferrer much as an underdog here, with the Spaniard holding a 3-13 mark in majors when priced at [4.0] or bigger – the wins being against Fernando Gonzalez on grass in 2006, Rafa Nadal here in 2011 and at the US Open of 2007.
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Konta, making her main-draw debut this year after being defeated in qualifying the previous three years, beat Venus Williams in the first round and became the first British player since Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs in 1987 to make it to the fourth round at the Australian Open.
