Sony Ericsson Men's Final Tips: Value lies with Novak in battle of world no. 3 and 4

Events / Ben Caudell / 05 April 2009 / Leave a Comment

Serbian holds a 4-2 lifetime lead over Murray and is still ahead in the world rankings - all of which makes [3.0] value.

Yesterday's valiant win for Victoria Azarenka denied Serena Williams her sixth Sony Ericsson Open and a slice of history.

The teenage Belarusian was in an unrepentant mood and showed no sign of nerves in her first premier-level final as she defeated number one seed Serena Williams 6-3, 6-1. Azarenka, unsurprisingly, admitted that this was the biggest win of her career. With two WTA Tour singles titles at Brisbane and Memphis and after reaching the semi-final at last weeks Indian wells, her ranking will improve to an all time career high of number eight in the world.

In the lead-up to Saturday's final, Azarenka had dropped only one set in five matches, she quickly set about making life difficult for Williams, who was struggling with ankle and quad injuries that she later explained restricted her movement, left, right, and forward. Struggling with her movement and hitting over 30 unforced errors, Serena found it extremely hard to compete against the big hitting Belarusian. It was not surprising therefore to see Azarenka close out the match and record her third singles title so far this year.


Today's Men's Final Selections:

Andy Murray (GBR) v Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Number three and number four seed Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, both 21years of age, will battle it out today for the $600,500 prize money and 1000 ranking points on offer at this years Sony Ericson Open final 2009. Murray appearing in his 17th ATP World tour level final (he is 10-6 in finals) has won their last two head-to-head match-ups, defeating the Serbian 7-6 7-6 at last year's Master Series event final in Cincinnati and in the quarter-finals of Toronto 6-3 7-6. Djokovic leads the head-to-head 4-2 and will want to cement his place amongst the world's top three.

2007 Winner Djokovic is making his second final appearance in four visits. Two years ago ranked number ten in he world he proceeded to win he title without dropping a set posting a 6-1 6-0 win over Andy Murray in the semi finals. At this year's event he has been in scintillating form, defeating Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Roger Federer on route to the final. Importantly, the Serb has managed to hold serve 43 of 48 (saving 15 of 20 break points) and has converted 20 of 40 break point chances. With this stat in mind and the fact that Murray has struggled at this event in previous years, I definitely see value in backing Novak Djokovic at a decent starting price of [3.0].
Selection:
Back Novak Djokovic @ [3.0] to win match
Back Novak Djokovic @ [5.9] to win 2-0